Egg Time, Spring Time: The Happy Egg by Ruth Kraus

IT WAS JUST BORN.

IT WAS AN EGG.

A white bird regards the blue egg she has just laid with some surprise.

It can't do bird things--walk, sing, or fly.

IT COULD JUST BE SAT ON.

And the bird does her duty. She sits on the egg, and one day it surprises her with a CRACK!

Out comes a jaunty blue bird who greets her with a lusty PEEP! And it's ready for action.

It walks right off, page right! It sings like a bird. And then it flies away, right off the page, only to reappear, in the upper right corner, proud and happy.

And, as Ruth Kraus suggests in the new issue of her classic, the little blue bird may someday have her own egg to sit on, in the revised edition of her The Happy Egg (Harper, 2016) Kraus's narrative is beginning-reader simple, and the illustrations provided by her husband, Crockett Johnson (of Harold and the Purple Crayon (Purple Crayon Books) fame) are minimalist, flat, blackline drawings with primary colors--blue and yellow--that tell the story wordlessly with iconic images. There is a flower blooming, so we know it's spring. The hatchling passes in a page turn through early nestling days, fledging and flying right away, in an instant of telescoped growing up. The final page promises a successful transition, with five blue eggs waiting for their turn to be sat on.

With the message that growing up is a hopeful thing, this is the stuff of classic picture book storytelling, and Krauss herself authored two Caldecott Honor books, the iconic The Carrot Seed, 60th Anniversary Edition illustrated by Crockett Johnson, The Happy Day, illustrated by Marc Simont, as well as A Hole Is to Dig, with pictures by Maurice Sendak.

Kirkus Reviews says simply "...deceptively simple and sweet."

Cretaceous Caretaker: Rex Finds An Egg! Egg! Egg! by Sten Weinberg

When this goofy-looking baby dino finds a large spotted ovoid, he assumes it's an egg. He's quite taken with it and carries it carefully toward his own nesting area.

But prehistoric times are fraught with danger. A nearby volcano begins to rumble and spout, and Rex realizes he has to do something to save himself--and his egg.

"RUN! RUN! RUN!"

Rex makes a run for it, unfortunately right over a cliff and into the cretaceous sea, swimming with a variety prehistoric critters. Luckily, Rex lands on the back of one sea monster and seems temporarily safe.

But, NO! A pterodactyl swoops to scoop up Rex and egg. Rex slides down the sea monster's back and scurries back to the safety of his own nest. Whew!

But when the volcano again begins to shake the earth, spewing steam and lava, little Rex drops his prize. It cracks open, and Rex realizes that he's been nurturing, not an egg at all, but a rock! Rex is briefly brokenhearted. Is this the sad end to a possible lovely friendship?

Little Rex is an appealing little predator in Steven Weinberg's jolly T. Rex romp, Rex Finds an Egg! Egg! Egg! (Margaret K. Elderry Books, 2015. Weinberg's easy text will have tots chiming in on the thrice-repeated refrain and older preschoolers will soon be "reading" this one themselves, while his bright palette shows off his cute little T. Rex character with plenty of charm and verve.

But Nature will out, as caretaker turns carnivore when Rex gets a bit rumbly in his tumbly and spots potential herbivorous prey:

"LUNCH! LUNCH! LUNCH!"

As Kirkus Reviews adds waggishly, "Young dinosaur fans will like this solo debut for Weinberg a bunch, bunch, bunch."

Counting the Chicks Before They Hatch! Ten Eggs in a Nest by Marilyn Sadler

GWEN THE HEN HAD LAID ALL HER EGGS. SHE WAS GOING TO BE A MOTHER!

RED ROOSTER WAS GOING TO BE A FATHER! "HOW MANY EGGS DID YOU LAY TODAY?" HE ASKED.

Gwen is a superstitious sitting hen, and she asserts that it is bad luck to count your chicks before they hatch. The two anxious parents-to-be agree to take it as it comes.

So when the first chick pops out, Red Rooster struts proudly over to Worm World, and proprietor Pinky Pig is happy to sell him one worm for one coin.

Red runs back to the roost to feed Baby #1, only to discover a surprise! Two more baby chicks have hatched. It's back to Worm World for Red, where he announces proudly that he is the papa of one plus two--three chicks!  But the responsibilities of fatherhood have multiplied while Red Rooster was at the worm emporium. Back at the nest he finds three more chickies waiting for their worms.

Red puzzles over the count as he heads back to Pinky's emporium: One plus two plus three equals... six babies. Papa Red Rooster realizes that he is also out six coins! Being a family man is harder than he knew!

But the count continues to mount back at the coop, with four new chicks waiting for him in the barnyard, in veteran storyteller Marilyn Sadler's jolly new Bright and Early Book, Ten Eggs in a Nest (Bright & Early Books(R)) (Random House, 2014). Emergent readers and beginner mathematicians will find lots of fun on the way to ten in this newest beginner reader, executed by artist Michael Fleming in bright primary colors in a style reminiscent of P.D. Eastman's early reader classics. Red Rooster is a comely comic character who gets his tail feathers all a-flutter in his frantic rush to provide his new babies with provender, and he gets to play out the final comic line in fine feather.

YOU COULD HAVE KNOCKED HIM OVER WITH A FEATHER!

This one pairs perfectly with Theo LeSieg's (alias Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel's) classic counting book, Ten Apples Up On Top!

Taking Care of Egg: When Blue Met Egg by Lindsey Ward

ONE SNOWY MORNING, BLUE WAS AWAKENED BY SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY FLYING THROUGH THE AIR.

A STRANGE EGG.

Blue is completely consternated to find a sizable, cold, and very white egg in his nest.

"DID ANYONE LOSE AN EGG?" BLUE ASKS.

Blue is a conscientious bird who immediately soars into action, searching for the egg's long-lost mother. Blue pops the egg into his little orange bucket and flies off over New York City, looking for the right home for his foster egg.

Their search becomes a scenic tour of wintertime New York City--Central Park and the boathouse, skyscrapers, uptown and downtown, the Statue of Liberty, and down into the subway, with many iconic Big Apple sights in the background. Blue even stops for a repast of a hot dog with all the New York trimmings from a street vendor.

EGG DIDN'T SEEM TO BE ALL THAT HUNGRY.

Blue and Egg share good times in the winter city--a whirl on a carousel, an evening at the opera (Blue shares his opera glasses with his stolid charge.) Still no Mama Bird comes forth to claim the lonely egg. As the chilly winter passes, Blue realizes that he enjoys his quiet companion and he really doesn't want to give Egg away. But one morning he notices that Egg seems smaller somehow. Blue's home remedies seem not to help this distressing shrinkage; in fact, hot soup seems to make the problem worse. And then, one warmish morning in April, Blue realizes that Egg is gone--totally gone--from his nest. Is this a tragedy?

Blue hasn't a clue, but sharp-eyed readers will know from the first page where this "egg" came from--an errant snowball toss by a bundled-up girl below Blue's tree. But Blue doesn't stay blue long, for underneath the tree he finds a flower blooming, and he is joyful in the belief that his friend has been transformed.

Lindsey Ward's When Blue Met Egg (Dial, 2012) proffers a sweet revamping of the Are You My Mother? premise, set against her charming vignettes of New York City's snowtime scenes, including a gatefold page with an intricate map of the Big City and adjacent boroughs across those familiar bridges. Ward's artwork combines delicate water-colored drawings with cut-paper collage which adds a lot to this quirky little winter-to-spring story--an egg-cellent beginning for spring and a tip of the hat to all those soon-to-come real colored eggs.

Not Eggs-actly!: Duck and Goose by Tad Hills

In a feathered "finders-keepers, losers-weepers" squabble, a little duck and a little goose find a large, roundish, spotted object in the field. It's an egg, right? In their limited experience, it's an egg, and they immediately dispute ownership. Duck "saw it first," but goose "touched it first."


The quarrel threatens to turn a bit testy until the two begin to think about the baby growing inside their egg. Protectively, Duck and Goose scramble to sit atop the egg to keep it warm, and both manage to perch precariously back-to-back on top.

"Scoot over. I don't have any room," complained Duck.

"You are much closer to me than I am to you."

"Stop yelling in my ear, Goose!"

"Shhhh..." Goose hushed, pointing at the round thing beneath them.

Quietly, Duck and Goose continue their quarrel about ownership of the baby inside the egg. Duck insists that it must be taught to quack. Goose insists that honking is the way to go. But then the two pseudo-parents come to common ground.

"I am going to teach the baby bird to waddle," Goose added.

"So am I," Duck said.

Duck and Goose agree that both of them can teach the baby to swim and fly, and the two sit patiently atop their charge, through sun and moon, rain and shine, as they await the big event.

Then one day, they feel something that means the big moment is coming. What to do? Goose suggests remaining calm. Then they notice a small bluebird giving the egg an experimental kick. She excuses herself and suggests that they play together. "I just thought that maybe I could play with your ball. It really is a nice one," she says.

"Did she say ball?" Goose gulps and whispers to Duck. The two ponder the unthinkable for a moment and immediately begin to spin the situation.

"I did have my doubts," said Duck.

"Yes, and I must say, I was somewhat suspicious of those big dots," Goose admitted.

With the resilience of their tender years, the two decide the ball is definitely a keeper, and immediately make the best of the outcome by kicking their new toy down the field, where "sometimes, it even flew."

Tad Hills' Duck and Goose, an ALA Notable Book, is sure to hit a nerve with children who have argued over possession rights and found a way to compromise and enjoy the fun. The bright, appealing illustrations and the absolutely simple silliness of the two little ones' rivalry over hatching a polka-dotted ball will have children giggling, "That's not an egg!" but laughing sympathetically all the way through.

For more Duck and Goose fun, see also Tad Hills' What's Up, Duck? and Duck & Goose, How Are You Feeling?