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"An Egg is Quiet" by Dianna Aston

Author:

Dianna Aston

Illustrator:

Sylvia Long

Publisher:

Chronicle Books, 2006

Reviewed by:

John Warren Stewig, Carthage College

In an elegantly over-sized format (double page spreads are 11”x17 1/2”), artist Long provides pastel, lushly detailed watercolor illustrations for the simple text. A list of qualities (ie: an egg is shapely) is accompanied by more detailed information telling interesting, little known facts (ie: some sharks do begin life as eggs). Ample white space showcases the wide variety of subtle color differences among eggs and the pages are large enough for the artist to show size differences effectively. Comparisons are helpful: it would take 2000 hummingbird eggs to equal the size of a single ostrich egg. The book stretches children’s thinking: who would think an egg is “artistic?” Aston did, and Long shows that so effectively. The book is an unexpected delight.