Visually this book is just a delight. Geraldo Valerio is a master of collage. I have included some of his other books at the end of this post. I am not so sure about the story, though. I like the way the stork is caring for her egg. It has a distinct pattern of pastel circle. The moment when the nest tips and the egg is flung into the night is deeply moving as is the sadness when mother stork returns to find her egg and nest are gone.
The new egg is clearly different - brighter colours and a geometric pattern. I am happy when she takes this new egg to her nest but then the story takes a strange turn. A human baby hatches from the egg. Does this reference the story told to children long ago that babies are delivered by storks? The baby is certainly happy with its stork parent and well fed and he or she has cute "undies" which match the pattern we saw on the egg but now things get a little odd. We see a flock of birds, many different species, not just storks, flying through the air carrying their own curious babies - a rabbit; a goldfish; a small pig; a little girl and a little boy. I guess if this is a book about different families or even adoption then it is wonderful to see how happy everyone looks and how well the "kids" have adapted to their new lives.
Publisher Blurb: The Egg is an imaginative and unusual story about a bird and a child, and how they become a family. The wordless story opens with a crane caring lovingly for an egg. During a storm, a gust of wind blows the egg from its nest. Despite searching far and wide, the crane can’t find the lost egg anywhere. Heartbroken, the crane spots something—an egg! Not its own, but since this egg is also alone, the crane rescues it to safety.
When the egg hatches, the little one inside is—unexpectedly—a human baby. No matter their differences, the crane loves and cares for the child, adopting it into an avian life. When they take flight together, this unusual duo encounters other birds with their young ones—the babies all a diverse array of creatures, showing that families come in all shapes and sizes.
This whimsical story is open to interpretation and imagination, but above all imparts the message that a loving family can be whatever we make it.
When the stork mother has lost her original egg the sadness is expressed through rain drops on the page - I adore this image:
Geraldo Valério is the author of a book in the IBBY Silent book collection - The Blue Rider
Here are some other books by Brazilian Geraldo Valério. He now lives in Ontario, Canada.
I do love his page of puffins from My Book of Birds:
Geraldo Valério has some new titles coming out in 2021 - Busy, Busy Birds (Board Book); and My Book of Butterflies.
1 comment:
Wow that was quick. There was no hurry.
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