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THE GREAT BIG ESPECIALLY BEAUTIFUL EASTER EGG by James Stevenson Kirkus Star

THE GREAT BIG ESPECIALLY BEAUTIFUL EASTER EGG

By

Pub Date: April 18th, 1983
Publisher: Greenwillow

Once more Stevenson's seemingly dour Grandpa beguiles Louie and Mary Ann with a yarn to shame the liars' club. This one is occasioned by the children's morning hunt for Easter eggs. ""Guess what day this is, Grandpa,"" begins Louie. ""I haven't the foggiest,"" Grandpa answers. . . but soon he's recalling his childhood quest for the ""great big especially beautiful egg"" requested by Charlotte, the little girl next door. Rising early on Easter morning, young Grandpa sees a formally dressed rabbit delivering eggs. "" 'Excuse me. Are you the Easter bunny?' 'Obviously.' "" But the rabbit's eggs are all one size and equal in beauty--""Take 'em or leave 'em""--so Grandpa, flying through the air on his dog's back courtesy of a rigged wishbone wish, must go off to the Frammistan Mountains, where a huge and easily flattered bird lays enormous predecorated eggs. The return with the egg is harder--the wishbone wish was only good for one-way--but Grandpa and his dog deal handily with a treacherous slope (""sheer ice, straight down""), a self-pitying bear who wants their egg, a blizzard that covers it with snow, and two sea monsters who converge on it. ""I was able to rescue the egg,"" says Grandpa offhandedly, and we see him snatching it from between the two monsters' jaws. The rock he lands on turns out, of course, to be a third sea monster, but a nice one who takes them home. What do you think Charlotte did with that egg? Well, Louie and Mary Ann find out on the sly last page. How do you think it got behind that tree? You can trust Grandpa to keep that to himself. A happy find in any season.