The Emperor's Egg by Rae Tan

It is my hope that little readers will learn that heroism isn’t just about grand gestures or having superpowers. A true hero is also someone who is honest and brave enough to stand by their values 

even in the face of challenges and temptations. Quiet heroism is also often found in our everyday efforts – whether it is standing up for a friend or sharing your toys and snacks, 

these little actions speak of bravery and kindness! Rae Tan Good Reading

Looking for a worthy successor to his throne, an ageing emperor gives all the children in his kingdom an egg. After thirty days, he will judge what each child delivers to him and choose his heir. Ren brings his egg home and takes the best care of it. He reads to it, sings to it, sleeps with it and keeps it warm. Ren waits and waits, but his egg never hatches, while all around him wondrous hatchlings are emerging from other children's eggs. In a hall full of magical creatures, how can Ren present his unhatched egg to the emperor? Teacher's Notes

Image source: Instagram Rae Tan

... a reimagining of an ancient Chinese folk tale about integrity, courage and patience. Queensland Reviewers Collective

The author Rae Tan, who was born in Singapore but now lives in Perth, is also the illustrator. Her particular art style, which is mainly in pastels and watercolours, displays the Asian culture and highlights moods and emotions through her figures. She holds a BA in international politics from King’s College London, and performance diplomas for both the piano and violin from Trinity College London. Currently, she is a music teacher working with young children. She is passionate about creating beloved characters and imaginative stories.

Here is an interview with Rae Tan where she talks about her book Pancakes for Plum.

My brain often thinks about book pairs and so as soon as I read this book a couple of months ago while browsing in a city bookstore I knew the perfect companion book. You could read the three books from this post as a part of a mini unit with your Grade One or Two students. And perhaps then add in another wonderful book by Julia Donaldson (that is not as well-known as her famous titles) The Magic Paintbrush. I also have a Pinterest of Picture Books with an Asian focus. 

The Empty Pot

You might also look for this one:

In a faithful retelling of an ancient Chinese folktale, Peng faces a dilemma. The emperor is old and childless, so he has decided to choose a successor from among the children. Calling them together, he gave each child a single seed and instructed them to nurture it for a year. After that time, they were to return to the palace and show what had grown. Despite careful and loving care, Peng’s seed has failed to even germinate. To avoid public humiliation, he tells his parents he doesn’t want to return to the palace. They tell Peng he should go and tell the emperor that he tried his best but failed. Each of the other children arrive carrying luxuriant plants with colorful flowers. The emperor inspects each one, but when he sees Peng’s vase and hears his report, he declares Peng his heir and discloses that the seeds he distributed could never sprout. Honesty and bravery are the qualities he sought in his successor. Only Peng had the courage to bring an empty vase and tell the truth. Source

Sonya's Chickens by Phoebe Wall

Sonya loves her chickens. She has three and she has raised them from tiny chicks. She makes sure they have enough water, fresh straw, and lots of delicious corn. It is not a surprise that one day Sonya finds the perfect gift - a smooth, warm, brown egg. But ...

"One chilly night, Sonya woke to a ruckus of squawking and shuffle-y bump noises from outside. ... The floor of the coop was frosted with feathers, and Sonya cried out as she counted not three, but two frightened chickens cowering in the rafters above. The third was nowhere to be seen."

Sonya is desperately upset but her father offers some beautiful wisdom. Yes this does seem very unfair but now let's think about the fox. That fox also works hard to feed his babies. 

"He didn't care that it was our chicken he took. He just saw it as a chance to feed his family. I know you feel sad, but you wouldn't want those baby foxes to go hungry, would you?"

Sonya's Chickens was published in 2015 and it won an Ezra Jack Keats award for a new illustrator. I was very surprised to discover it is not out of print. Here are some details of the paperback edition. 

Here is my Pinterest collection of picture books about chickens. You can see more books illustrated by Phoebe Wahl here. Here is a video of Sonya's Chickens. I would share Sonya's chickens with slightly older children aged 7+ and you should make sure you leave time for discussion and questions. 

Bookseller blurb: When Sonya discovers the answers, she learns some important truths about the interconnectedness of nature and the true joys and sorrows of caring for another creature.

A reassuring story about death in the natural world, thoughtfully designed and illustrated. Kirkus Star review

Companion book:

Fox: A Circle of life story

Bowerbird Brood by Aura Parker

In the first book - Bowerbird Blues - the pair of bowerbirds find each other. Time has now moved on and there are three eggs in the nest and the female is charged with all the work - keeping the eggs safe and warm over the long days and nights until they hatch. Then when the three little chicks arrive we watch them grow and change all expressed in the most delightful language.

"When the wind blows, my wings are walls, sheltering, keeping. Cuddling, caring. Softly, slowly stroking, gently with my feathers. Whispering, over and over, little ones you are safe and warm and loved."

Special mention with this book goes to the magnificent end papers and the soft colour palette used throughout the book. This is such a visually appealing book with illustrations to linger over and revisit. 

Before or even after reading Bowerbird Brood with your library group, class or young reading companion it would be good to look at some photographs of male and female bowerbirds. As with many bird species - the female bowerbird has very different plumage to her male companion. I also recommend you dip into my previous post about bowerbirds. 

The female bowerbird has sole responsibility for raising the chicks. The female builds a shallow cup-shaped nest from sticks and twigs, in a bush or tree. She lays 1-3 eggs of pale brown with darker markings, which she will incubate for about 3 weeks. The chicks leave the nest when they are 17-21 days old and are dependent for food on their mother for several more weeks.

Here is a description of the art process in Bowerbird Brood by Aura Parker:

The illustrations created for this book are a mixture of digital and traditional watercolour, with some elements painted by hand on smooth watercolour paper and others with a Photoshop brush. 

You can see inside this book here. 

This is the companion volume to Bowerbird Blues.

Peregrines in the City by Andrew Kelly and Sue Lawson illustrated by Dean A Jones

 

"The tiercel hunts, searching for prey."

What is a tiercel? Where is this huge bird? Where does he take is prey? Is this the place you expect to find a nest?

"She settles back to incubate her clutch. Not all eggs may hatch and not all those that hatch may survive to fledge."

How long does it take to incubate falcon eggs? What does fledging mean?

"The tiercel arrives with the eyases' first meal. He strips meat from bone and delicately feeds the balls of wobbling fluffy down."

Some facts about peregrine falcons:

• They live on every continent except Antarctica
• The have a yellow ring around their eyes, yellow and feet with black talons.
• The female is larger than the male.
• They can reach speeds of up to 300km per hour.
• Falcons eat pigeons, seagulls and other small to medium sized birds.
• Falcons mate for life.
• They lay eggs on high stoney ledges or cliff faces, in hollow trees and on skyscrapers.
• Their nest is called a scrape, the chicks are called eyases.

This book is based on a pair of Peregrine Falcons who nested at 367 Collins Street in Melbourne back in 1991. In 2020 volunteers added raised nesting boxes to the ledge. The same pair have bred chicks since 2017. 

Publisher blurb: As urban development encroaches more and more on wild areas, many species have to adapt to survive. One species that has adapted to city living is the peregrine falcon. Falcons normally nest on high cliffs but in many cities across the world they can be found nesting on tall buildings.

The writing in this book is so powerful as evidenced by the poignant moment at the end when the three young birds leave the ledge and all that is left is one abandoned egg.

This is a fabulous book with such a striking cover. I well remember talking about peregrine falcons with all of the children in my school when Home by Narelle Oliver was short listed in 2007. 

I do wish this book had a glossary. I had to look up ‘tiercel’ and ‘gravel scrape’ and ‘eyases’.  I know some of these are explained on the falcon facts page, but I wanted a quick word list to refer to as I was reading. Here is a review of Peregrines in the City in Reading Time. And here are a set of detailed teaching notes. 

Peregrines in the City was a 2023 CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) Notable title (Eve Pownall - Non Fiction). I imagine it would have come close to short listing (6 titles) but was probably 'beaten' by Opal and Dart - a book with truly wonderful bird illustrations.

Recently I watched a video from the Evanston Public Library in Chicago where they also have had a pair of nesting falcons since 2004. Sorry the video on this page is not available in Australia. 

This is not an egg by Philip Bunting

Image source: Philip Bunting

There is a joyful and playful energy in this book. The narrative arc is perfect. We hum along to the beat of “this is not an egg” with more and more hilarious suggestions culminating in the decorated egg from Mexico and then boom! we turn the page and our bilby hero meets another bilby who wants to join in with this fabulous game of imagination and now the two can play with their Bilbot. 

Readers then enjoy two pages of night time robotic fun and until the authors wack in another boom! moment. The egg belongs to an emu. Of course, the reader sighs. That makes perfect sense. Or does it. I can hear the youngest children squealing with delight over the twist of the baby emu-dragon.  

This book has perfect end papers, a very engaging text, expressive digital illustrations and full-page spreads interspersed with four frame pages all created with a consistent and pleasing colour palette.

Here are the end papers:

This book will be a favourite with young children and it will be loved by schools at Easter who look for books about bilbies and eggs. The intertextual references are perfect but the Buntings have been restrained and not overloaded the text with too many of these. I was also interested to see the full stop used with the title - I wonder why they included this?

I love the way the colloquial dialogue is presented using different colours of text. I can imagine reading this book aloud with a group of readers taking different parts. (Readers theatre). I also appreciate the way the background changes in each illustration. 

The Philip Bunting book Wombat was our IBBY Australia 2022 honour book:

The IBBY Honour List is a biennial selection of outstanding, recently published books, honouring writers, illustrators and translators from IBBY member countries. The IBBY Honour List is one of the most widespread and effective ways of furthering IBBY's objective of encouraging international understanding through children's literature.

The titles are selected by the National Sections which can nominate one book for each of the three categories. For a country with a substantial and continuing production of children's books in more than one language, one book may be submitted for writing and translation in each official language.

Important considerations in selecting the Honour List titles are that the books are representative of the best in children's literature from the country and that the books are suitable for publication throughout the world. The selection provides insight into the diverse cultural, political and social settings in which children live and grow and it can be used by all those involved with developing educational and literacy programmes and publishing initiatives to develop exemplary “international” collections.

Here is an interview with Philip Bunting about his work - with Joy Lawn. 

The Secret in the Compost Bin by Margaret Pearce illustrated by Sharon Thompson

Jeremy and his parents have moved to a new house which should be terrific but it has cost so much money his mother and father now say no to everything - no pets and no football boots. Living next door is Jeremy's cousin Kate. She has goats, dogs, cats and even a tortoise. She offers Jeremy a tortoise egg and he puts it in the warm compost bin. Clearly this egg is not going to hatch into a tortoise. It is so very different from the other eggs. Sure enough a huge and hungry creature emerges a few days later. Jeremy and Kate name him Ulp after the noise he makes. The friends do have to keep Ulp hidden but that is not their most pressing problem. Jeremy and Kate need money and they need it urgently so they decide to offer to complete odd jobs around their neighbourhood. Washing cars, clearing gutters, mowing lawns and washing dogs these children learn a lot about making money and they discover there are some traps. One of the best scenes is when they work long and hard to wash and dry two huge shaggy pedigree dogs only to see them both roll in the mud when they take them for a walk to the park. 

Some jobs do go well but it all seems to be taking a long time to raise enough money for bike repairs and football boots. Both kids have over-looked the man next door who has offered $30 to anyone who will clear out his yard. As a reader we know about this offer but it takes until page 61 of 82 pages for the children to finally remember. Here is a quote from page 20:

"He must have years of accumulated rubbish around his house and yard. Even my dad reckons his place is a disgrace! He says Professor Fogey has offered thirty dollars to anyone who can clean it up, but nobody's game to take it on." 

Ulp is an eating machine (rather like the Iron Man in the famous book by Ted Hughes) and so it is easy to clear up the mess in a day. Now they have their money and can pay for the things they need. But what about Ulp - it is now impossible to keep him in the compost bin. Luckily there is a tip or a dump in their town and that seems to be the perfect new home for Ulp. Is he a dinosaur? Is he a giant lizard? Readers are left to make their own guess.

I really like the line drawing illustrations in this book by Sharon Thompson. I looked her up on Trove and found she illustrated a few titles that I remember having in previous school libraries - The Farmyard cat; A glassful of Giggles; and The Judas Donkey by Errol Broome. The art in The Secret in the Compost Bin reminded me of the art in Thing by Robin Klein illustrated by Alison Lester. 

The Secret in the Compost Bin is another little old out of print book I borrowed this week from a school library. It was purchased for this library in 2007 (helpfully they record date of purchase and price on all their books).  In this library they continue to use date due slips which make it easy to see how often a book is borrowed. Sadly this sweet little story has only been borrowed three times - 2008, 2014 and 2018.  The paper, as often happens with Puffin/Penguin titles has turned yellow and the print size is very small so sadly it seems this book will now be weeded.

There is an interesting link between this book - The Secret in the Compost Bin - and The Big Brass Key by Ruth Park which is the book I talked about yesterday. In both books the children have moved to a new house and in both books the children really want a pet but the parents say no - too expensive. There is nothing dated about this book from 1990 so I think it could easily be reprinted only the money or cost of things and pocket money might need updating. Actually I have made an amazing discovery. This book has been reprinted [9798215044674] with a new cover. Looks like someone (perhaps Margaret Pearce) might have paid to have the book reprinted. In any case I am not familiar with the publisher Writers Exchange. 

The way Kate and Jeremy take on so many odd jobs to raise money reminded me of Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen. 

First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

 

"This is a book about transformations - from egg to chicken, seed to flower, and caterpillar to butterfly. But it's also a book about creativity as paint becomes pictures, word becomes story .... and commonplace becomes extraordinary."

This book is so significant it even has its own Wikipedia entry. 

The book comprises a series of die-cut pages that convey various forms of transformation. Seeger uses word play and alters the composition of the illustrations between cut-outs to create unexpected relationships among basic concepts such as time, opposites, and colours. In 2009, the company Weston Woods Studios, Inc. made a video version of the book.

There is a surprise under the dust jacket:

I am not a fan of this video but it will allow you to see how the die cuts work. 

The flower on the page "first the seed" is just such a beautiful image:

A paperback edition of this 2007 book was published in 2018 [9781596437227] but it is sadly out of print. The hardcover is still available but the price is way too high to consider here in Australia. I saw one retailer listed this book for over $47. My friend from Kinderbookswitheverything adores this book but sadly her library copy is in bad shape. I found a copy at Better World Books and I hope it is in slightly better shape so she can have a better copy in her wonderful school library. 

Awards:

• 2008 Caldecott Honor Book
• 2008 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book
• New York Times Best Seller
• New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Books of 2007
• American Library Association Notable Children’s Book, 2008
• Horn Book Fanfare Best Books of 2007
• Oppenheim Platinum Award, 2008
• NAIBA Children’s Pick of the List, 2007
• Arizona Grand Canyon Young Readers Award, 2007
• Michigan Great Lakes Great Books Award, 2007
• South Dakota Prairie Bud Award, 2007
• Eric Carle Museum Picture Book of Distinction, 2007

Take a look here to see other books by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. I have previously talked about Green. 

Nesting by Henry Cole

Blurb: "In the spring, a robin sings to find another robin. Together, they build a nest with twigs and grass. The mother robin lays the beautiful blue eggs. She will keep the eggs warm in the nest until they hatch into baby robins. The father robin protects the babies until they can fly on their own. The perils the babies encounter are many, including snakes and storms. The nest is always their safe place."

Uncomplicated language describes the nesting process, while illustrations both mirror and extend the text. Horn Book

Robins are red but every illustration in this book is black and white with a touch of aqua blue. The pencil illustrations in this book are so very very appealing. 

Children will learn about robins (and never once are the birds anthropomorphised). But they can also be reminded of the lengths parents go to in order to take care of their young (whether feathered or not). Seven impossible Things before Breakfast (click this to see inside Nesting).

Here is the second book by Henry Cole that follows from Nesting and yes it features beavers!

I found this wonderful video of Henry Cole "reading" his wordless book Unspoken. Sadly it is out of print but watching the video you will see this is a very special book which has been crafted with so much care.

In this interview with Roger Sutton at The Horn Book Magazine, Henry Cole talks about his book One Little Bag: An amazing Journey. My first discovery of Henry Cole was through the art in the book A Nest for Celeste. 

The Crocodile who Didn't like Water by Gemma Merino

Do not rush into this book - turn the first pages slowly. You will see a basket of eggs. Nearly all of them are blue but wait one is white. Then on the next page the basket is picked up by a large crocodile wearing red ankle length lace up boots. 

"Once upon a time, there was a little crocodile. And this little crocodile didn't like water."

He watches his brothers and sisters swimming but he would rather climb a tree. Little crocodile saves his money from the tooth fairy and he buys a rubber swim ring but this doesn't really solve his problem. Little crocodile just does not fit in and he is growing way bigger than the others. Then one day he sneezes a huge sneeze and wow - he breathes fire. 

Now turn to the final end paper - a dragon wearing red rubber boots is reading a book "The Dragon who didn't like Fire" and she has her basket of eggs - nearly all of them are white but tucked in you will spy one blue egg. What will happen next?

There are a lot of picture books with a similar theme or focus to this book - The Crocodile who didn't like Water.  These are questions all children ask at some time:

Where do I fit in?

Why am I different from ... ?

What is special about me?

Is this really my family?

I found this list of 25 themes in Children's literature and quite a few of them apply to this book:

Family Relationships; Accepting Differences; Bravery and Courage; Self-Concept; Perseverance and Persistence; and Growing Up. 

Every element of the picture book is in play here -- endpapers that foreshadow the big reveal and cheekily suggest an epilogue; touches of red in the largely green world that mark our hero as an outsider (viz. his tiny red rubber boots); page design that makes us feel his loneliness; emotion-steeped characters whose dot eyes convey trepidation, shock, joy, tentativeness, exhilaration; just enough typographical shenanigans; a pared-down text with one perfect neologism.  Horn Book

This book is filled with humour, but it is touching as well. It is one of those books that leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling and a smile on your face. 'The Crocodile Who Didn't Like Water' is a beautiful story about finding your own wings. It is perfect for children who feel like they just don't fit in. It shows them sometimes being like everyone else isn't the most important thing. Sometimes you just need to stretch your wings and be yourself. Book Bag

You can see Gemma talking about her book. Here are the three other books in this series by Gemma Merino:

The most obvious comparison book to go with The Crocodile who didn't like Water is The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen. 

Here are some other books to explore:

Happy Hippo

Little Platypus

The Ugly Duckling

Little Nelly's Big Book

Duck, Apple, Egg by Glenda Millard illustrated by Martina Heiduczek

Here is part of text of this book. 

Duck on the green,

sun in the sky,

egg in the nest,

apple on the tree,

and me.

Duck in the sky,

sun in the nest,

egg on the tree,

apple on the green,

and me. ...

Me on the green

under the sun

beneath the sky

beside the tree

with the duck

on her egg

in the nest.

Apple in a pie.

Pie in me.

When you see the name Glenda Millard on the cover of a book you know you are in for a treat. Glenda has such a rich grasp of the way language works - the power of a single word perfectly placed. Receiving this text, which I imagine was just one typed page, would surely be daunting for any illustrator. The way authors and illustrators are paired is somewhat of a mystery but often the process is controlled by the publisher. If that is the case here, then I offer huge congratulations to Harper Collins and ABC Books. It is so important for a picture book to employ equal partners - the author pens a brilliant text and the illustrator creates images both worthy of the words but also images that take young readers beyond the words into another realm of imagination. I had not heard of Martina Heiduczek but she has made this simple picture book truly special. I love the limited colour palette especially the moss green grass, the blue house roof which matches the pants worn by the small child and the perfect red she has used for the shiny apples. 

Image source: Booktopia

I now discover Martina did the illustrations for the wonderful Senior Primary novel - We are Wolves by Katrina Nannestad.

I am going to predict Duck, Apple, Egg will be included on the CBCA 2021 Notable titles which will shortly be announced.  Take a look the teacher notes. This book should be added to every Preschool book shelf and it would make a joyous gift for a young child too.

The illustrations have a charming slightly European feel to it – that green is so very fresh but Australian children will love it. StoryLinks

You can’t help but smile when you read this picture book. It pulls you back into your childhood and the delights of being in nature, doing nothing in particular and loving it. Kids Book Review

Glenda Millard is the author of the wonderful Tishkin Silk series along with these picture books:

Duck and the Darklings

Lightning Jack