Egg: Nature’s Perfect Package by Steve Jenkins (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Egg: Nature’s Perfect Package by Steve Jenkins Deborah Stevenson Jenkins, Steve Egg: Nature’s Perfect Package; by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page; illus. by Steve Jenkins. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015 32p ISBN 978-0-547-95909-2 $16.99 R Gr. 2-4 Jenkins and Page’s new natural history outing focuses on that key player in reproduction, the egg. The book refreshingly notes from the start that “almost every animal” begins with an egg, with some growing inside the mother’s body and some outside, and then goes on to a glorious exploration of the oval experience. Spreads display captioned thumbnails treating various egg layers, offering insight into egg [End Page 405] sizes and how they don’t always correlate to adult size, describing threats to eggs and protections for eggs, and, of course, busting out of eggs. By using the egg itself as a focal point the authors shift perspectives, putting squid, spiders, chickens, and alligators suddenly all on the same plane and, literally, starting from the same place. The result is a fascinating lesson on unexpected sameness and intriguing difference, with a sequence that’s both browsable and readable. Jenkins’ cut-paper illustrations are particularly vibrant here, the broad remit allowing for dramatic display from various taxonomical orders so that audiences are treated to the plumage of the toucan and the showy shades of the weedy seadragon; poses suggest candid mid-action snaps. Though the title is not glitch free (why, for instance, isn’t the mother platypus shown in the incubation position described in the text?), it’s an engaging step up from Aston’s An Egg Is Quiet and a thoughtfully original look at a key stage of the animal world, and readers will realize that you can’t make animals or omelettes without breaking eggs. A concluding spread offers more information about the animals featured. Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois