The Odd Egg

by Emily Gravett, Emily Gravett (Illustrator)

Overview

Each of the birds has an egg...except for Duck. So when Duck finds a beautiful egg of his own he's delighted — even though the other birds make fun of it. But everyone's in for a BIG surprise when his egg finally hatches!

The witty text and playful illustrations appear on cleverly designed cut pages that allow the visual jokes to unfold.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781416968726
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	01/27/2009
Edition description:	Repackage
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	437,294
Product dimensions:	8.08(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.52(d)
Lexile:	AD400L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Emily Gravett is the author and illustrator of many children’s books, including Matilda’s Cat, Again!, Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears (winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal), Meerkat Mail, Tidy, and Old Hat. Her first book, Wolves, was the winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Award for Illustration. Her second book, Orange Pear Apple Bear, was a Quills Award finalist, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, and on the shortlist for the Kate Greenaway Medal. Emily lives in Brighton, England, with her partner, their daughter, and the family dog. Visit her at EmilyGravett.com.

Emily Gravett is the author and illustrator of many children’s books, including Matilda’s Cat, Again!, Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears (winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal), Meerkat Mail, Tidy, and Old Hat. Her first book, Wolves, was the winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Award for Illustration. Her second book, Orange Pear Apple Bear, was a Quills Award finalist, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, and on the shortlist for the Kate Greenaway Medal. Emily lives in Brighton, England, with her partner, their daughter, and the family dog. Visit her at EmilyGravett.com.

Editorial Reviews

Emily Gravett specializes in distinctively dissatisfied picture-book characters. With imagination, ingenuity and a lot of faith, a male duck in her latest book…finds a way to satisfy his maternal yearnings…The imaginations of her picture-book protagonists tend to be in overdrive. They are all odd ducks, and none more so than the one in The Odd Egg, whose story unfolds in delicately rendered pencil and watercolor.
—The New York Times

Sherie Posesorski

An odd duck finds an odd egg in Gravett's (Meerkat Mail) economically told story. Envious of a quintet of various mother birds snuggling with their eggs, a male duck wants an ovoid bundle, too. From an undisclosed locale, he adopts a gigantic egg whose green spots match his head feathers. The other birds cackle with amusement; the bookish owl consults an "Egg Spotters' Guide" and looks askance at Duck's treasure. Gravett arranges the six eggs across a spread in ascending-size order. When each "creak cracks," layered, before-and-after specially cut flaplike pages reveal each successive baby greeting its mother with a "tweet" or a "honk." Ultimately only Duck's mystery egg remains. Using visual suspense and few words, Gravett depicts an alligator bursting from the shell, snapping its jaws and scattering the naysayers. There is mild ambiguity-not everyone is shown getting out of its way and feathers do fly-yet the gator seems amiable. A parting view shows it waddling after skinny Duck, saying "Mama," wearing a scarf Duck has knitted and booties that resemble a duck's webbed feet. A witty salute to both nature and nurture. Ages 4-8. (Jan.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

PreS-K

This is the story of a drake who is feeling left out. "All the birds had laid an egg. All except for Duck." When he finds a huge, green-spotted egg, he loves it right away. Sitting high atop it-so high that he barely fits into the picture-he is subjected to the taunts of the egg layers: "Not pretty." "It'll never hatch!" "Ha ha!" Gravett uses narrow pages that gradually increase in size to reveal all of the other eggs hatching, from the smallest chick to the tallest flamingo. While the moms cuddle their new hatchlings, Duck waits-and waits. Leaning against the large egg, he knits up a storm until "Creak Crack, SNAP": out pops an enormous alligator, scaring all of the scoffing birds right off the page. The final, priceless illustration shows an adoring alligator marching-in four knitted slippers and a muffler-behind Duck, murmuring, "Mama." There are many aspects of the story that make it worth adding to the what-have-I-hatched collection. First, it's so simple that toddlers can enjoy it. Second, the layout is unique and well suited to the plot. Third, the illustrations are a joy to behold: funny, personable, and oh-so-eye-catching. The ecru background on every page is a nice touch, lending the book a little extra cachet. Kids will love cracking the pages of this exceptional story.-Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY

School Library Journal

This simple plot, illustrated in delicately winsome pencil and buoyant watercolor, will make readers jump at the upshot-and return to be startled again. "All the birds," including a chicken, an owl, a parrot and a toweringly elegant flamingo who doesn't fit on the page, have laid their own eggs-except Duck, who peers curiously below his balletically hoisted leg at the empty spot where an egg should be. When he finds one and adopts it, the others taunt him, a la Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson's classic Carrot Seed: " ‘Ha Ha!' ‘It'll never hatch!' " In a series of lengthening pages (the smallest being two inches from gutter to edge), all the other baby birds hatch while expectant Duck patiently knits. Creamy backgrounds and gentle colors don't mute the shocker of just who Duck's hatchling turns out to be as it shoots leftward out of its egg and across the spread, scattering birds everywhere. Endpapers show baby sporting a knitted scarf and booties, adoringly following proud (male) "mama" Duck. A gem of persistence and sweetness. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews