Egg - Softcover

Grade 2-4-Readers can follow the hatching process of a wide variety of eggs in this eye-catching photographic presentation. Introductory pages define an egg, name groups of animals that lay them, and show diagrams of one developing in a hen. Most examples presented are from the bird family, but amphibians, insects, snakes, and even a slug are represented. Some specific animals may be unfamiliar to the young, but the common theme of similarity in the hatching process will be evident to all. A spacious format contains carefully captioned photographs that demonstrate time differences and techniques required by the emerging young. While somewhat repetitious, this approach does show the similarities of offspring in all egg-laying creatures. Christine Back's Chicken & Egg (Silver Burdett, 1991) and Joanna Cole's A Chick Hatches (Morrow, 1976) offer more comprehensive information. Burton's book is one that children and teachers will reach for to further their understanding of the fascinating emergence of new life.
Diane Nunn, Richard E. Byrd Elementary School, Glen Rock, NJ
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The publisher's characteristically crisp, clean design nicely serves this well-thought-out chronicle of eggs and hatching. Birds (among them the penguin, the familiar street pigeon and the more exotic golden pheasant of China) take up the first part of this book, while the latter sections are devoted to such hatchlings as the corn snake, the Kerry slug and a trio of fish. Each spread boasts a series of color photographs, the first of an egg that is either intact or has its "pip" (the first visible sign of the hatching process), the remainder showing, in distinct stages, the infant creature pecking, slithering or swimming its way out of its first home. A final view captures the fledgling in youthful glory at, for example, the age of two days, or presents a full-grown adult specimen. Captions, blocks of text and miniature sidebars convey, with remarkable accessibility, a wealth of information, from the given creature's habitat to the length of its incubation period and nesting patterns. Something to crow over. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.