An Egg Is Quiet: (Picture Book, Kids Book about Eggs)

By Dianna Hutts Aston

Book Overview

This stunningly beautiful and wonderfully informative book from award-winning artist Sylvia Long and author Dianna Hutts Aston makes for a fascinating introduction to the vast and amazing world of eggs. Featuring poetic text and an elegant design, this acclaimed book teaches children countless interesting facts about eggs. Full of wit and charm, An Egg Is Quiet will at once spark the imagination and cultivate a love of science.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1452131481
• ISBN13: 9781452131481
• Release Date: March 2014
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Length: 36 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 8.8" x 10.7"
• Age Range: 1 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 7

Customer Reviews

These are the yolks, folks

You know how it is. A wave of newly published children's books hits bookstore shelves nationwide and somehow you miss some of the lovelier offerings in the mix. Basically, by the time you've gotten your bearings and have waded through most of what's out there, a fresh and entirely NEW crop of books fill the shelves and you're left wondering what might have eluded your grasp. What did I personally miss? I missed "An Egg Is Quiet", and I am thoroughly ashamed of the fact. Now I have come to right a great wrong and heap healthy scads of praise on this most deserving book. Beautiful and informative all at once, it brings scientific information to the kiddies in a form that both they and their very happy parents will appreciate. Before we get to the words in this book, let's just open the cover. Ahhhh. See that? I'm talking about the endpapers. They're blue and artfully speckled. Okay, let's move on. Turn another page and now what do you see? Two pages of eggs suspended against a white background. Now we enter into the book and we learn all sorts of things about these yolky wonders. We see a massive variety in shell colors, from the magenta-tinged black-capped mockingthrush to the deep sea-blue green of the glossy ibis. We see how eggs can be different shapes, sizes, and have variegated patterns. They're even textured differently, and in the book we see the gooey, rubbery, hard, smooth, and rough eggs of the world. Old dinosaur eggs and the development of embryos lead up to the final discovery. Yes, an egg may be quiet. But just wait until it hatches and then just listen to the noise. The final two pages before the endpapers show all kinds of insects, birds, and other egg-hatching creatures taking a kind of final bow. What I respect about Dianna Aston is that she doesn't limit her scope. It would have been the most logical thing in the world to focus this book on bird eggs and go no further. Instead, she's not afraid of being inclusive. The section on the shapes of eggs even shows a perfectly round sea turtle egg, next to an oval ladybird beetle, next to a pointy common murre, next to a truly disturbing can't-get-it-out-of-my-brain-no-matter-how-hard-I-try dogfish egg of the tubular persuasion. Variety is the name of the game here and Aston has the situation truly well in hand. She was only half the team, though. Just as much credit, then, must be handed over to illustrator Sylvia Long. First of all, paint me baffled when I discovered that the only materials that went into the creation of "An Egg Is Quiet" were listed merely as "ink and watercolor". Now, I have seen watercolors in my days. They are sloppy and messy and they don't leave much room for the kind of elegant white space you find in this book. Yet on closer inspection there was no denying it. Long has mastered the art of the tiny watercolor detail. Whether she's tracing the green sinews of the passion vine butterfly's home or embedding the tiniest of spe

Crack open this multi-layered wonder

There are just so many ways/reasons to read this multifaceted marvel! For the very youngest listener, elegant, lyrical prose describes an egg in concrete, easy to understand prose. The second layer of text gives the reader additional information about the various inhabitants of eggs and their incubation. Upon closer inspection, the names of the animal hatching from each egg are provided for would-be classifiers. This book is appropriate for a cross section of reader, from tiny lap-sitters to children on the rug during story time to young nature explorers. No wonder this book is listed on the 2006-07 Mockingbird Children's Choice Award List.

An Egg is...A Hust Have!!

What a gorgeous book! And just in time for Easter! From the concise text to the colorful illustrations, this book holds my daughters attenion while teaching us both a thing or two. The naturalistic and realistic approach of the pictures was a refreshing change from the cartoon character filled world that is often pushed on children. We are egggstatic about this eggcellent book!

wonderful natural history reference book for pre-K - early elementary

This is an absolutely gorgeous book with a variety of interesting drawings to look at and talk about with your young child. The drawings of various eggs found in nature are beautifully detailed and there is plenty of information about different egg designs and the habits of a variety of egg-laying species. Children are naturally fascinated by nature and this is the kind of book that piques their interest. My three-year old enjoys it and has been inspired by it to learn more and to (gently) seek eggs in their natural settings. Nice Easter or spring gift!