Big Egg

May 1, 1997
Gr. 1^-2. This appealing book offers beginning readers a monosyllabic text, a witty story, and brightly colored, cartoonlike artwork. When Hen discovers a huge egg among her little ones, she puts all her eggs in one carriage and wheels it around, asking the other animals if the big egg is theirs. Cat, Dog, Pig, Cow, and Goat all disavow it, but Fox happily proclaims that it's a fox egg and wheels the carriage into his den. In the climax, the bird hatching from the big egg saves the chicks hatching from the little eggs and finds a happy home with their grateful mother hen. Young readers will enjoy the solid construction and humor of the story and the unstudied look and funny details in the illustrations. Librarians may want to have several copies on hand, as this amusing book is a natural for those classroom egg units that roll around every spring. ((Reviewed May 1, 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)