The Great Easter Egg Hunt a personalised book with your child as the hero

It was the evening before Easter, and Ben was kneeling on the window seat with his nose pressed to the glass. Out in the garden, in the soft spring dusk, something was moving between the bushes. Something with long ears and a fluffy white tail, carrying a big basket full of painted eggs.

"The Easter Bunny," Ben breathed.

Just then a gust of spring wind came whooshing over the garden. It shook the blossom off the cherry tree, it rattled the gate, and it tipped the Easter Bunny's basket right over. Out tumbled the eggs, red and blue and yellow and green, rolling away in every direction, down the path, through the gate and out into the evening.

Ben pulled on his boots and his coat, took the little lantern from the hook by the door, and slipped quietly out into the garden.

The Easter Bunny was sitting by the cherry tree, holding his empty basket and twitching his nose. His whiskers drooped.

"Oh dear, oh dear," he said. "All my eggs are gone, and tomorrow is Easter morning. What will the children find?"

"I'll help you," said Ben. "We'll find them together."

The bunny looked up, and his ears stood straight up too. "Would you really?"

Ben held up his lantern. In its warm light they could see a little piece of blue eggshell on the path. And a bit farther on, a piece of pink. And after that, a piece of yellow, leading out through the garden gate and into the meadow.

"A trail," said Ben. "Come on!"

They followed the colored pieces of shell across the meadow until they came to the henhouse. Inside, a plump brown hen was settling down for the night.

"Excuse me," said Ben politely, "have you seen any painted eggs rolling by?"

"Cluck, cluck," said the hen, fluffing her feathers. "I certainly have. Some rolled toward the flower beds, and some rolled all the way to the woods. Such a clatter, I could hardly sleep!"

So off they went to the flower beds. The daffodils were nodding their yellow heads, and there, tucked between the stems, were two painted eggs, one with stripes and one with spots. Ben lifted them gently into the basket. Then he spotted a big red tulip that was bowing down very low, as if it were hiding something. Ben peeked underneath. There was a little green egg, snug as could be.

"Three!" said the bunny happily.

Under the hedge they heard a tiny snore. It was a hedgehog, curled up and very sleepy. He opened one eye.

"Eggs?" he yawned. "There's one in my pile of leaves. It's very pretty, but it's not very comfy." He pointed with his little nose, and sure enough, a purple egg was resting in the old leaves. Ben thanked him, and the hedgehog went straight back to sleep.

Next they came to an apple tree covered in white blossom. High in the branches was a bird's nest, and in the nest Ben could see something bright orange. He climbed up carefully, one branch at a time. In the nest sat three small speckled eggs that belonged to the mother bird, and beside them lay one painted Easter egg.

Ben lifted out the painted egg, very gently. The mother bird's own eggs he left exactly where they were, safe and warm. The mother bird fluttered back and settled on them with a happy little chirp.

The moon was rising now, round and silver, as they walked into the blossoming woods. On a low branch sat a squirrel, holding something round and turning it this way and that.

"Is that yours?" asked the squirrel. "I thought it was a very big nut. But I can't crack it, and it doesn't smell like a nut at all."

"It's an Easter egg," laughed Ben.

"Oh!" said the squirrel, and handed it back with a bow.

At the edge of the woods was the duck pond, shining in the moonlight. The ducks were paddling in a little group, quacking softly.

"Quack! Look over there," they said, pointing with their beaks. Out on the water, a painted egg was floating along in a little boat made of a leaf and a twig.

Ben knelt at the bank. He picked up a long stick and reached out, ever so carefully, and guided the little boat slowly, slowly toward the shore. The ducks swam alongside and nudged it with their beaks. At last it bumped against the bank, and Ben lifted the egg out. It wasn't even wet.

When they got back to the garden, the basket was nearly full. But some of the eggs had cracked on their long journey.

"Don't worry," said Ben. "We can paint new ones."

So in the garden shed, by the light of the lantern, Ben and the Easter Bunny sat side by side with brushes and little pots of paint. They painted eggs with flowers and eggs with stars, eggs with zigzags and eggs with polka dots. Ben painted one with a tiny bunny on it, and the Easter Bunny said it was the finest egg he had ever seen.

Just before sunrise, when the sky was turning pale pink, the basket was full to the very top.

"Thank you, Ben," said the Easter Bunny. "You saved Easter." He waved his paw, and off he hopped across the garden to hide the eggs before anyone woke up. Ben crept back inside and into bed, and was asleep before his head touched the pillow.

On Easter morning, the whole family came out into the garden for the egg hunt. Grandpa stood on the porch with a big smile. There were eggs among the daffodils and eggs under the tulips, eggs behind the watering can and eggs in the hollow of the apple tree. It was the most wonderful egg hunt ever.

Ben found the egg with the tiny bunny on it, and he smiled a secret smile. Then he looked up. Behind the hedge, two long ears were waving at him.

Ben waved back.