Module 11: An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Aston

"An egg is quiet.  Then, suddenly...an egg is noisy!"

awildbirdoaisis.com

Citation

Aston, D.  (2006).  An egg is quiet.  San Francisco, Calif.:  Chronicle Books, LLC.

Summary

An Egg is Quiet serves as a simple, yet beautifully informative introduction to eggs.  The endpapers contain illustrations of almost 60 eggs, with each being identified and roughly to scale.  The book describes the diversity of eggs: their colors, shapes, sizes, and textures.  It also illustrates the development of the embryo inside the egg.  The book is sparse in text, but explanatory as it teaches about this remarkable feat of biology. 

My Impressions

What I noticed right away were the beautiful and detailed illustrations.  The text seemed simplified and too basic at first, but the message and lesson are conveyed easily, allowing the illustrations to show, rather than tell, about the little miracles of eggs.  Any time an egg is show, it is also identified, though many of the names might be unfamiliar to readers.  To help with this, the back endpapers contain illustrations of the products of each egg shown on the front endpapers and throughout the book.  Readers are able to turn back and forth to identify each egg and resulting creature.  I was somewhat disappointed that size and scale were not respected more, as eggs that were drawn larger than actual size only contained a general statement about the enlargement.  As someone who studied science, it would have been helpful for the artist to say an egg was 30000 times the actual size, for example.  I can see, though, how this might distract from the overall look and feel of the book.

Review

Kirkus Reviews

"Worthy successor to Ruth Heller's Chickens Aren't The Only Ones (1981), this engrossing album pairs images of dozens of precisely detailed eggs and their diverse wild parents to basic facts presented in neatly hand-lettered lines. Nearly all depicted actual size (and those that aren't, are consistently so labeled), Long's eggs look real enough to pick up, whether placed in natural settings or suspended on white pages. All, whether from birds, insects, reptiles, fish or amphibians, are not only identified, but Aston adds both topical phrases--"Eggs come in different sizes"--to each spread and, usually, memorably presented additional facts: "An ostrich egg can weigh as much as 8 pounds. It's so big and so round, it takes two hands to hold one egg." A delight for budding naturalists of all stripes, flecks, dots and textures. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-9)"

[Review of the book An egg is quiet by D. Aston].  (2006).  Kirkus Reviews, 74(6), 286.  Retrieved from http://www.kirkusreviews.com.

Suggested Library Use

• Invite a biologist to talk about eggs and development.  Ask him or her to bring along eggs, skeletons, or other specimens to show the children and their parents, if included. It would be especially exciting if a specimen from the book could be shared. This would be a great opportunity to talk about teaching science to children as they explore the world around them during a walk at the park or a visit to the mountains, beach, or lake. 

Find it @ Your Library - Albany County Public Library

J 598.6 AS86E


Notes
Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Young Children, 2007