Customer Reviews

Odd Egg

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Author/illustrator Emily Gravett has received numerous accolades for her work including the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Award for Illustration. She deserves recognition again for The Odd Egg, a smile provoking, cleverly designed story about a duck who very much wanted to lay an egg.

It was that time of year - all the other birds save for Duck had produced an egg. Luckily Duck found one.. For an egg it was quite unusual; the other birds thought it very odd and said it would never hatch. Nonetheless, Duck thought it the most beautiful egg he had ever seen.

Although it took some doing he sat on the egg and even proceeded to do some knitting for the blessed event. The other birds' eggs eventually cracked, the owl's and the chicken's but still nothing for Duck. At last Duck's egg began to creak then crack until out popped a surprise.

Ingeniously cut pages allow youngsters to follow the egg's progress to a humorous finish that will undoubtedly result in laughter as well as questions.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

The "Odd Egg" is a cute book about a group of birds, all of whom have laid an egg -- except for Duck. Chicken, Flamingo, Owl, Parrot and a cute unidentifiable bird like a wren, all have eggs... but not Duck. And then, one day, he finds an egg. (Yes, Duck is a boy, which might explain why he didn't lay an egg.) And it's not just any egg. It is a HUGE, white egg with green spots.

Duck thinks his egg is grand, but the others aren't so sure. In any case, they all sit down and await the day when their eggs hatch. And they do! All except the BIG egg. The tension builds for kids as one by one the other babies are born... and then, crack!, the big baby does hatch.

Talking Points:::

"The Odd Egg" is a cute book that is well worth tracking down at the library. The artwork is simple and in soothing muted tones. The story has a surprising ending if you are a small person: older Toddlers and Preschoolers and Kindergartners.

The center section of the book is really nicely done as the pages have been cut down so that they overlap and hide some of the action until you flip them over. Thus what you see at first is a line of expectant parents and a line of cracking eggs. Then with the first flip you see the 'wren' fly forwards to greet it's baby. And with the next flip you find the chicken hugging it's newborn chick. It's the sort of things young children love to toy with.

When it comes to the last egg, moms might want to preview the ending as it shows feathers and birds flying off in all directions. (Actually it shows their feet, but there's a sense of distress) I know 98% of children are only going to laugh and giggle at this, but I happened to have had a son in the 2% who this would have bothered. I'm sure you know your child well enough to know whether to ignore this comment or not. Other wise a sweet, fun book.

Accelerated Reading = generic "1"

** 3.5 Stars **

Pam T~
mom and reviewer at BooksForKids-reviews
(#1040)

Emily Gravett, The Odd Egg (Simon and Schuster, 2008)

Gravett is certainly on form these days; first Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears and now Thee Odd Egg, which starts out looking as if it's going to be one of Gravett's minor books, but gets inventive fast, and the ending is right up there with Wolves. If you're not familiar with Emily Gravett yet, this is a great way to start. ****

I found this book when I was looking for another Emily Gravett book "Orange, Pear, Apple, Bear" (also really great). After reading the other reviews, I bought this book for my 17mo old daughter. She LOVES this book. It's a little big for her to pull off the shelf but she often pulls it off and carries it over to have us read it to her. She loves the different sized pages with the eggs hatching and sometimes we rock back and forth together during the "Creak crack" lines for fun. She also loves to turn to the back cover and say "mama". I would definitely recommend based on how much my little bookworm loves this as well as its lovely illustration and nice storyline.

I really enjoyed this book with my 2 year old. The 1/8, 1/4,1/2 pages slowly change the story while letting the reading see what is changing. And the surprise ending was great.

I am a fan of Emily Gravett, her simple text and lovely, classic illustrations have enchanted both me and my daughter. I have to say that 'Monkey and Me' is far better in my opinion even though it does not have a "message: per se. 'The Odd Egg' is a sweet story of devotion and persistance. Duck doesn't have an egg like the other birds. She finds an egg that looks very different. Duck looks after the egg, even after all the other bird's eggs hatch. Finally duck's egg hatches and gives everyone a surprise.

It is not immediately a favorite of my 3 year old, but it is in the rotation. I am hoping it grows on her. I do just love the last picture of duck's 'baby' wearing the scarf duck knitted. Very sweet indeed.

This is a lovely book with very little text but so much going on in the illustrations that the story tells itself. Gravett has created another wonderfully quirky book that children will enjoy. Some pages have been shortened to reveal a surprise on the other side. Kids love little interactive touches like this. While not a book that lets me wave my hands around and yell (my preferred story telling method) the illustrations are delightful and funny and always enjoyable.

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I really liked this book until the end. It's very dark and I read it to my son once and put it away after that. I love the art, but again,I think it's too dark for a little kid.

Duck is so excited to have found an egg. He cares for it ever so dedicatedly even while everyone else's eggs hatch. All the other animals watch carefully as you turn creatively cut pages until, at the end, an alligator hatches from the egg and eats all on the onlookers with a single snap. The book is beautifully made and illustrated. The layout and cut of its pages is similar to Eric Carle's book "the Hungry Caterpillar". This is a better book for Pre-school and up then Toddlers due to the delicate cut of its pages.