The artwork is absolutely beautiful, with a vivid and appealing color palette, and so many charming little details to capture the reader's gaze. The accompanying illustrations are simply gorgeous, perfectly capturing the beauty of these animals-to-be.įrom the breathtaking first and last pages - which show a wealth of eggs, and the creatures who hatched from them, respectively - to the dual-narrative text that draws young readers in, this picture-book succeeds on every level. An egg is clever.' - before presenting examples, and more detailed information. Each two-page spread opens with a general statements about eggs - 'An egg is colorful. Like their subsequent A Seed Is Sleepy (which I chanced to read first), author Dianna Hutts Aston and illustrator Sylvia Long have created an immensely appealing nature-study with An Egg Is Quiet, one that both educates and enthralls. They’re lovely books, and they’d make terrific gifts. I found this book because of her, and the seed book too because of this one. I feel grateful to Goodreads friend Kathryn. This is a wonderful nature book, and it is appropriate for very young children as well as elementary school aged children. I just love this artist and I hope there will be more books from this illustrator/author team.

At the beginning of the book, there’s a two page spread of many eggs, at the end there’s a two page spread of the creatures that have hatched from those eggs they’re not shown at scale. Many types of eggs are represented: of various birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and even fossilized dinosaur eggs.Īt the end of the book, one egg (a black-necked stilt bird) hatches, and the chicks are shown. When I was little, I remember feeling enamored of the idea of birds pecking their way out of their eggs and having the shell crack in order for them to be born.Īlthough the text is interesting, it’s really it’s the illustrations that make this book so special.

There’s a lot of information about eggs and their purpose, and I think children will most likely be more fascinated by this book than the seed book. There is a short story poem that’s interesting and informative, and there are some random egg/animal facts on many of the pages. As a kid I would have spent hours perusing the images of each of these eggs and then gone back many times for more viewing sessions. I never knew eggs came in so many sizes (the eggs are shown at their exact size except the ones labeled as larger than actual size) and shapes and colors and patterns and textures.

I recently read A Seed Is Sleepy and I didn’t think I’d like this book as much, but actually it was at least as magical, entertaining, and educational.

An Egg Is Quiet by Dianna Hutts Aston