Mrs. Hen's Big Surprise [Hardcover]

Christel Desmoinaux (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Mrs. Hen has found a very strange-looking egg in her garden: It's yellow with blue polka dots and it's three times her size!

But an egg is an egg, so Mrs. Hen sits on it. She's sure it will hatch into the baby chick of her dreams.

Is Mrs. Hen in for a Big Surprise!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-K-When childless Mrs. Hen finds a large spotted egg in her garden, she takes it home and tries to hatch it. Her mean-spirited, nosy neighbors (a cow, a pig, a goose, a sheep, a turkey, and a porcupine) make fun of the unusual egg and of Mrs. Hen's naive hopes for a baby chick. When all of her efforts to make it hatch fail, she gets frustrated and returns the egg to the garden where it accidentally rolls down the hill and cracks open. A big blue-spotted dinosaur peeks out. Mrs. Hen is overjoyed to have a baby at last and overlooks the fact that "For sure, it was a funny-looking chick." The simple story is predictable, and few readers will be surprised at the happy ending. The illustrations show more originality than the plot and give the book a certain quirky charm. The whimsical cartoons show the plucky Mrs. Hen's imaginings and range of emotions, her neighbors' spiteful gossiping, and the passing of the seasons. The animal characters have expressive, cartoonlike faces and the setting is pleasantly pastoral.
Lisa Dennis, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

First published in France, this small picture-book calls to mind Molly Bang's Goose (1996) and other loving adoption stories. Mrs. Hen is sad because she doesn't have a baby chick to love. Digging in her garden, she finds a gigantic egg. She wheels it into her living room and sits on it, imagining the wonderful life she's going to have with her little yellow chick. The farm animals jeer and laugh, but Mrs. Hen waits and waits, perched on top of the egg, until it rolls away and cracks open. Out steps a huge, pink, smiling dinosaur creature, who becomes Mrs. Hen's beloved chick. In the richly colored cartoon illustrations, the farmyard is both cozy and magical, a playground where anything can happen. Hazel Rochman

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689834039
• ISBN-13: 978-0689834035
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,244,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adorable Adoption Tale For The Pre-schooler!, July 28, 2000

By 

"mstret" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mrs. Hen's Big Surprise (Hardcover)

Wonderful way to help explain international and cross-cultural adoption to the toddler and pre-schooler. As an adoptive single Mom-to-Be awaiting international adoption, I also like that it portrays a single parent. My only complaint is that in the 21st Century, Mother Hen should have been called Ms. Hen instead of Mrs. Hen. (I'll take the liberty to change the name when I read it to my future daughter)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars especially good for children who don't look like Mom & Dad, June 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Mrs. Hen's Big Surprise (Hardcover)

I'm adopting internationally and was looking for picture books for a young child that would help me begin addressing the issue with a little one. This is a wonderful, charming, heartwarming book -the point being that Mrs. Hen wants a chick to love, and is still thrilled when her "chick" is a little creature that doesn't happen to look like her - she still adores him. The story is short, the illustrations are adorable, and it's not a "heavy", intense book at all - just a feel-good one perfect to read to small children.

5.0 out of 5 stars cute story ... great illustrations, September 20, 2005

By 

M. Buchanan (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mrs. Hen's Big Surprise (Hardcover)

This book has a great message. All Mrs. Hens friends think she is crazy, but she falls in love with this egg and when it hatches looking different then what everyone expected... it doesn't matter. Mrs. Hen loves the baby. You can apply it to many different real life experiences. Very Cute! My daughter's favorite book.