Customer Reviews

Daisy and the Egg

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The illustrations of this book are beautiful--they make me want to cup Daisy and her cousins (and little Pip) in my palm--and the story is lovely. Despite one reader's feeling that there's no message (or an inappropriate message), I think children have the right to literature that's more than didactic, that represents dramatic or emotional or natural situations for their amusement or wonderment or pondering. And ducks sit on eggs for other ducks. And sometimes, eggs don't hatch. True to character, though, Daisy is curious, determined, and sweet--this is why she sits so diligently on the egg and is able, through her own determination, to win over her doubting Mama. By the last page, when Daisy and Mama and Pip watch the sun rise on his "hatching day," I had a tear in my eye, and my nine-month-old was still interested in the bright and duck-filled pictures.

This book by Jane Simmons has a special place in my family history. In 1999, I was in my late 20s and suffering from endometriosis and primary infertility. My husband and I had tried for a year to have a baby, but it wasn't happening for us. Around Christmastime, we were shopping together downtown and I happened to open a copy of Daisy and the Egg that was part of a table display in a shop. As I read through the story, tears came to my eyes. I shut the book and left the store.

At Christmas, guess what one of my gifts was? My husband had returned for the book, and inside he wrote, "I love you. I have faith that if we wait and pray, we'll get one, too. Thanks for wanting to be Mama Duck with the faith of Daisy. - Your Loving Husband" - and along with it, this Bible verse, Mark 11:24 - "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

The book was a little something for me to hold on to. Our first "keeper" came within a year. 10 years later, we have three boisterous boys. We did have trouble getting all of them, including "eggs" that didn't hatch (miscarriages). But they are here and it's great.

I hadn't thought about this book in years, but tonight I was talking on the phone with a girlfriend who is going through similar problems. After I hung up the phone, I thought about the book and I went to my closet and found the place where I had carefully placed it out of the way of little hands. I immediately called her back and read her the book from cover to cover, including my husband's inscriptions. Both of us were in tears by the time we finished.

Whatever you think about this as a children's book (and I think it's sweet), it is a very touching book for grown ups facing infertility or miscarriage.

This book not only has beautiful illustrations, but also has an engaging story that young children will sit quietly to hear. As a preschool teacher I have watched my 3-5 year olds ask me to read it again and again. The message of perserverance is a good one and that's what the children seem to focus on when they hear it. "Daisy did it!". I can't wait to read the first book about Daisy. I plan on purchasing this book to add to my personal library for when I have children of my own.

This is a beautiful book, fun to read, and my daughter enjoys it immensely. She even "reads" along, reciting all the parts she remembers, and looks so proud of Daisy when she sits on the egg. At three, my daughter is doing as many things as she can her "very own self" and I think she identifies with Daisy wanting to do something on her own. This book is definitely worth having in your kids' library.

Well, the last Daisy book I read ended in "Hello, Daisy!", "Hello, Granny!" so I'll admit I wasn't ready for some of the issues in this book. Specifically, there is a suggestion of surrogate mothers (the Aunt is sitting on the egg instead of the mother of the egg) as well as the possibility of a pregnancy that doesn't end happily. In this case, the egg doesn't hatch and the Aunt and Mother abandon the egg ("Some eggs just don't hatch" says the Mother Duck). Daisy doesn't give up. She sits on the egg and it hatches so we have our happy ending.

If your child is older than mine (mine was 18mo when I read this to her), be prepared for the following questions:
1) Why isn't the mommy sitting on the egg?
2) Why does the mommy leave the egg?
3) Why don't some eggs hatch?

If you feel like delving into these questions, this is a great book. If you're not in the mood, best to hold off on this one.

(Beautiful pictures, of course, as expected from the Daisy books.)

As a fan of the first book, I was a little put off by this one. The art is as beautiful the first, but the story goes kind of flat. I come to expect that somewhere behind the sweetness and warmth of a children's book, should lie some commentary about life. Jane Simmons' first book 'Come Along Daisey,' showed that she knows just that. I left wondering what a Child should think about a mother that doesn't watch her egg, and then gives up on it, and leaves it to her duckling to save the day. In today's world I wonder what kind of conclusions children will draw.