Eggs

by Marilyn Singer, Emma Stevenson (Illustrator)

Just in time for Easter and springtime, here is a gorgeously illustrated picture book filled with fascinating facts about eggs.

Many creatures, including amphibians, reptiles, insects, birds, and even some mammals, lay eggs. Eggs come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and textures, from jelly-covered bullfrog eggs that float to stringy octopus eggs that hang beneath sea ledges. Animals protect their eggs in special ways too. Seahorse eggs are carried in the father's pouch, while Asian cave swiftlet eggs stay safe in a nest made of spit. As different as they are from one another, all eggs contain a special world, a place where a developing embryo can breathe, grow, and be nourished. Extraordinary facts abound in this intriguingly written and intricately illustrated picture book about the varied appearances, development processes, environments, and survival challenges of eggs.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Nature, Nonfiction, Birds

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 15, 2008

About the author

Marilyn Singer was born in the Bronx (New York City) on October 3, 1948 and lived most of her early life in N. Massapequa (Long Island), NY. She attended Queens College, City University of New York, and for her junior year, Reading University, England. She holds a B.A. in English from Queens and an M.A. in Communications from New York University.

In 1974, after teaching English in New York City high schools for several years, she began to write - initially film notes, catalogues, teacher's guides and film strips. Then, one day, when she was sitting in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, she penned a story featuring talking insect characters she'd made up when she was eight. Encouraged by the responses she got, she wrote more stories and in 1976 her first book, The Dog Who Insisted He Wasn't, was published by E.P.Dutton & Co.

Since then, Marilyn has published over seventy books for children and young adults. Her genres are many and varied, including realistic novels, fantasies, non-fiction, fairy tales, picture books, mysteries and poetry. She likes writing many different kinds of books because it's challenging and it keeps her from getting bored. She has won several Children's Choice and Parents' Choice Awards, as well as the following: the Creature Carnival, Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book, 2005; I Believe in Water: Twelve Brushes with Religion, New York Public Library's "Best Books for the Teen Age," 2001; Stay True: Short Stories for Strong Girls, Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, 2000 (YALSA); On the Same Day in March, Booklist's Top Ten Science Books of 2000; NCSS-CBC Notable Book, 2000; Deal with a Ghost, finalist, YA category, Edgar Award, 1998; It Can't Hurt Forever, Maud Hart Lovelace Award, 1983; The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, 1983; Turtle in July, NCTE Notable, N.Y.Times Best Illustrated and Time Magazine Best Children's Books of 1989; Turtle in July was also a Reading Rainbow review book.

Marilyn currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband Steve; their standard poodle Oggi, a cousin of their beloved and recently departed poodle Easy, seen in the home page photo; a cat named August ; two collared doves named Jubilee and Holiday; and a starling named Darling. Her interests include dog training, reading, hiking, bird-watching, gardening, meditation, playing computer adventure games and going to the movies and the theatre. She's also a major Star Trek fan.

Reviews

[Austin Kingsriter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eggs is an informative book about Eggs and a bunch of different kinds and the different kinds of animals that lay them, as well as what eggs look like on the inside.

This is a good book that is interesting and was not a bad read but not something that I would choose read by myself

i would use this book in a classroom setting when learning about eggs and or birds and reptiles.

[Marilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

How exciting to see that some thing as simple as eggs come in such a variety of shapes sizes and textures.

[Christine Turner]

Just in time for Easter and springtime, here is a gorgeously illustrated picture book filled with fascinating facts about eggs.Many creatures, including amphibians, reptiles, insects, birds, and even some mammals, lay eggs. Eggs come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and textures, from jelly-covered bullfrog eggs that float to stringy octopus eggs that hang beneath sea ledges. Animals protect their eggs in special ways too. Seahorse eggs are carried in the father's pouch, while Asian cave swiftlet eggs stay safe in a nest made of spit. As different as they are from one another, all eggs contain a special world, a place where a developing embryo can breathe, grow, and be nourished. Extraordinary facts abound in this intriguingly written and intricately illustrated picture book about the varied appearances, development processes, environments, and survival challenges of eggs.

Juv Nonfiction 591.468 Sin
Subject: Embryology -- Juvenile literature
Eggs -- Juvenile literature

[Kaitlyn Horvath · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another good book for young children when talking about different types of animals and where they come from. I like how it shows all different kinds of animals and not just sea animals or not just farm animals.

[Kristen Sewell · Rating 4 out of 5]

If a teacher wants to teach children about animals and how they are born from eggs this is the perfect book for it. It shows the different types of animals that come from eggs and how each creature develops differently. Very informal and follows development in steps.

[Angie Quantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent nonfiction book about eggs. Enough details and examples are given to clearly explain how eggs are laid, cared for, and hatched. Not just birds, but insects, amphibians, some mammals, and reptiles are featured in this nicely illustrated picture book.

[CFAITC]

This picture book contains many surprising facts about eggs and the resourceful methods used to protect them.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was so cool. i enjoyed reading about the different eggs and the development of the eggs. i also enjoyed the illustrations. it was a very good read

[Karla Talbot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduction to the variety of eggs. Describes the various sizes, shapes, and care of eggs until they hatch.

[Haley Hoenke · Rating 5 out of 5]

#science

[Hannah Richardson]

Eggs by Marilyn Singer is a non-fiction novel that explains where eggs come from and how they are taken care of by different animals. The book starts out talking about what is in an egg (an embryo) and how it has to be in the perfect environment in order to grow and get nutrients. Now, different animals have different environments their eggs need to be kept in. Each egg is different. Some are soft, while others have a more leathery feel. Each species has a different number of eggs. Some only have a few while others have tens. Some species bury their eggs (turtles, spiders, lizards) and others keep them in nests (birds). There are many different kinds of eggs that grow in many different kinds of environments.

I am not a huge fan of non-fiction novels, but learning about the many different kinds of eggs was actually somewhat interesting. I did not realize how the different species eggs varied so much.

This would be a great book for having a lesson on different species and their different types of eggs. It would be great if the teacher could bring in eggs to show the class so they could relate to the book.

[Lily Nagel]

This book is a Non fiction children's picture book. It has very intricate pictures of the birds and eggs. It has a lot of facts about different animals and their eggs. It would be great for a 3rd or 4th grade classroom. If a teacher were doing a unit in Science on different animals that lay eggs, this book would be great to read to the class!

[Jami Maturi]

This is a nonfiction children's book that gives a lot of information about eggs. It talks about how all eggs come in all different shapes and sizes. It also talks about where which animals eggs come from and how those animals protect their eggs. This book has great illustrations and wonderful color that goes along with the story. I thought this book was interesting and had a lot of facts that I didn't even know. I might not would want to read it out loud to a class for fun but if the students needed information about eggs this would be a great resource. This would be great to have in an elementary school classroom if a student was doing research or any looking for any information on eggs because this book provides a lot of that information.