The Odd Egg

by Emily Gravett was an easy book to pick up when I was shopping, I didn't even read it. This is where I began to get to know Emily as an author and discovered I love her books! Yesterday B and I read it for afternoon book time and thoroughly enjoyed it. The warm, soft illustrations are very inviting and the front cover poses questions right away for the reader. As we were reading along, we were quite impressed when we found pages staggered as stairs and as you turn the page the shorter page fits exactly to the longest page on the left with the illustration partially changing to fit the story.

The begins with all the birds having laid an egg except, Duck. Duck finds one but it is a bit unusual. It's quite large with green polka dots. As you read the stair step pages, the other bird's eggs each hatch. B and I felt anticipation because we knew the pages were leading up to Duck's egg hatching. What a surprise we got when we turned the page, truly! The ending is quite charming. I asked B if it was possible and she said yes, Duck cared for it. I think there is a message here...caring for different things is enjoyable, rewarding, and love.

She has a great website about her new books coming, games, activities, and a bio. Something of interest for all ages. Also, notice the librarian is a sketch of Emily Gravett, herself.