Book cover. A boy in round purple glasses and a green sun-print t-shirt kneels on a dark blue classroom rug, looking up from a rocket he has built out of coloured wooden blocks. His crayon drawing of the same rocket lies beside him, and the title is hand-lettered in blocks of colour across the rug.

Illustrated by Emily Boughton

Ten Bricks

Isabel Thomas

Four children each draw a plan for what they will build. Each of them is one brick short — so the only way anyone finishes is together. A first reader on partnership, from Oxford's Green Sparks sustainability series.

Oxford University Press · Green Sparks · 2025

Inside the book

Three children on a dark blue classroom rug, each stuck. A boy in round purple glasses sits with his chin in his hand beside his drawing of a rocket, a girl in dungarees stands over them scowling with a hand on her hip, and a third child hugs a single green triangle. Their crayon plans lie unfinished among scattered wooden blocks.

Four children pause around a spread of blocks and crayon drawings. The girl in dungarees folds her arms and grins with her eyes shut, the girl beside her presses a hand to her mouth, and the boy in purple glasses sits cross-legged with both hands on his cheeks — the moment before they work out they should pool what they have.

The four children have shuffled into a huddle on the blue rug. The boy in purple glasses draws a new plan with a purple crayon, tongue between his teeth, while a girl reaches across to hand him a green block and the other two lean in to watch. Their earlier drawings and a pot of crayons lie around them.

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