Eggnapper! Big Egg by Molly Coxe

HEN HAS SOME EGGS.

In her cozy nesting box, Hen is proud of her clutch of four little eggs. But, wait!

ONE IS BIG!

It's obviously not Hen's egg! She resolves to make some inquiries.

She loads her four little eggs and the Big Egg into her stroller and trundles them out of the hen house. Outside she spots Cat.

Could it be a cat egg?

"NO!" SAYS CAT.

Hen inquires of each animal she meets. Dog denies that it is a dog egg, and Mama Pig and piglets in her mud wallow decline ownership, too. Cow and Goat vehemently reject the very idea of a Cow or Goat egg.

Fox peers out from behind a tree, so Hen poses the question to him!

"IS IT A FOX EGG?"

"YES!"

Fox and little Fox push Hen's stroller with their prize at top speed to their little house under a hill, where the grinning foxes grab fork and knife and prepare for a tasty dinner.

But with a PEEP! the four little eggs begin to hatch. And so does the Big Egg, in a big way!

"SQUAWK!"

A very large, long-legged ostrich chick pops out! Fox suddenly realizes he's lost his appetite for poultry! He exits, page right!

Hen pops her four little chicks into her carrier, and then she and the Big Chick make a run for the hen house together!

HEN LOVES THEM ALL!

Molly Coxe's Big Egg (Step-Into-Reading, Step 1) has it all as a read for emergent readers--a satisfyingly funny, fast-moving plot in which the bad guy is foiled and courage and mother love are rewarded, all done up in few, but well chosen words, with plenty of contextual prompts in the clever illustrations which help beginning readers sail through the story with pleasure. Share this one with Molly Coxe's Hot Dog (Step-Into-Reading, Step 1).