Tegen and the Skipping Rhyme

It is skipping season in Polperran, and Jenny’s rhyme is on every child’s tongue. Tegen is not content with chanting along: she wants the story behind the words. So Martha closes the bakery early and tells it proper — Black Jenny, the Gwennol, the storm, and the treasure never found. Warm with floury comfort and edged with sea-dark mystery, this is a tale made for hushes after a skipping-rope song.

Young listeners will love the bounce and repeat of the rhyme, which gives little voices something to join in with while the story deepens. Tegen’s insistence on hearing it properly brings a bright spark of humour, and Martha’s telling keeps the shivers just right for four- to seven-year-olds: stormy, strange and exciting, but held in the safe circle of a familiar grown-up, a cosy bakery and a village everyone knows.

As part of Morwen Tresidder’s Polperran Tales, Tegen and the Skipping Rhyme helps children grow into the shared village one story at a time. It touches the old Polperran threads of Black Jenny, the Gwennol, rumour and lost treasure, while staying firmly in the picture-book world of playground chants and everyday questions. For families following Little Chough Press, it is another doorway into a place that feels remembered.