| Plot Summary: |
In the middle of the night in EggTown, a mysterious figure sneaks into a bakery shop to steal some pastries. He is chased out, thanks in large part to the keen eye of Good Gracious Grasshopper, but not before his cloak is marked with some desert-like evidence. The thief is Terrible Timothy Take-It, and he scurries to his mother’s home. Timothy’s mother, Tiny Tessie, is asleep. He loves his mother and deep down yearns to be good, but circumstance has led Timothy down a slippery slope to mischief. He leaves the cloak behind, and the next day, wearing that same garment, Tessie wanders into the village to do her shopping. Seeing the evidence on Tessie’s cloak, the townsfolk believe she is the thief. Coming to her rescue is Horrible Harriet Hare, a smart, lonely and occasionally over-bearing, schoolteacher. She convinces the townsfolk that Tiny Tessie, a frail, old hen, could not have been responsible for the break-in. The incident is forgotten, and the town prepares for its biggest day of the year, Egg Day. Egg Day is the day every Easter egg in the world is manufactured. Horrible Harriet Hare also prepares for the big day: each year, on Egg Day, she has a picnic with the school’s headmaster, Big Boring Benedict Bunny. Benedict and Harriet love each other, but they can never find the courage to express their feelings to one another. They are embarrassed by their nicknames, meanwhile, Timothy Take-It returns to the lair where he lives with the other Take-Its. They are a rough and menacing lot who conspire to steal all of EggTown’s Easter eggs. That night, they sneak into EggTown and do the deed, but Good Gracious Grasshopper is on the job again and witnesses the robbery. At an emergency town meeting, an unusual group of heroes assemble to retrieve the stolen eggs: the group consists of Benedict, Harriet, Good Gracious, Tiny Tessie, Boss Baker (the owner of the pastry shop) and Mrs. Baker. They must brave the treacherous swamps and forests to get to the Take-Its’ lair. The journey is fraught with danger and adventure and the brave little group ends up finding a lot more than what they were looking for. |
