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EGG by Steve Jenkins

EGG

Nature's Perfect Package

by Steve Jenkins ; illustrated by Robin Page

Pub Date: March 3rd, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-547-95909-2
Publisher: HMH Books

With their characteristic design and choice of intriguing details, this prolific author-illustrator pair introduces “nature’s perfect package”: the egg.

An egg-shaped introduction encapsulates the main ideas of this latest offering in a series of titles exploring nature’s wonders. Almost every animal begins life in an egg. Some, like human eggs, are nurtured internally, but many more develop outside. Eggs come in an astonishing variety of shapes, sizes, colors and numbers and are tended to in myriad ways or simply strewn, developing on their own. All contain what’s necessary to form and nurture the new creature. Spread by spread readers learn about the range of egg layers, egg sizes, how many are lain and where, egg eaters, egg protection, packaging, carrying, incubation and emergence. A final spread looks inside the eggs of a chicken and alligator as each creature develops over time, in five stages from embryo to hatchling. Text in the upper-left corner of each spread presents the topic. Realistic torn- and cut-paper images set on a plain white background are identified and explained in short paragraphs. The backmatter includes thumbnails and further information about the 54 egg-laying creatures pictured—from slugs and simple animals through insects, spiders, fish, amphibians and birds, plus two mammals (the mongoose and the platypus).

Appealing, accessible and accurate, this is another admirable creation.

(additional reading) (Informational picture book. 4-9)