Review by Booklist Review
Grey offers an amusing, if slight, cautionary tale about rushing to undertake something for which one is not quite ready. The one in question is a wee egg, its story told by a mother hen to a group of attentive chicks. The egg, personified solely with eyes and legs, yearns to fly. So, it devises a plan to throw itself off a tower, with predictably messy results. The spread following the downward plunge shows five Humpty Dumpty-esque attempts at patching the poor egg back together. Even more than in Grey's terrific Traction Man books, the artwork does most of the heavy lifting here. Eye-catching elements adorn each imaginatively composed spread, each one uniquely employing distinct perspectives, punchy close-ups and wide shots, and even some subtle collage. The bit on Bernoulli's Principle is, of course, superfluous, but the physics info will please adults, as will the message of waiting until one is ready. Kids, on the other hand, will enjoy the visuals, but be a bit horrified by the final spread revealing the egg's sunny-side-up fate.--Chipman, Ian Copyright 2009 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
With stories like Ginger Bear and The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon, Grey specializes in pathos around inanimate objects. This poignant nonsense tale concerns an egg that longs to fly. "The Egg was young," a hen tells a cluster of attentive yellow peeps. "If only it had waited." Working in stained-glass gouache hues and snippets of paper collage, Grey pictures the egg at an airport in aviator goggles, the pages scattered with feathers and (later) a foreboding postcard of the Hindenburg and a physics diagram (the Egg "didn't know anything about aerodynamics or Bernoulli's principle"). Suspense builds as the Egg (more proactive in his own doom than the complacent Humpty Dumpty) climbs a tower, takes "a step into space" and mistakes falling for flying. Grey pictures attempts to reset its shell with string, nails or (worst) blood-red tomato soup. "Luckily, the egg was not wasted," comments the hen, as the hero lies on a plate (optimists will notice it is sunny-side up). Grey balances humor and tragedy in her tale of naOvete, but those of fragile constitution should proceed with care. Ages 4-8. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-In a wonderfully subversive reinterpretation of a Humpty Dumpty-like tale, an egg longs to fly and imagines different ways to do it. Since it is young and doesn't really know much about aerodynamics, it figures a 583-step tower is the key to its dream. As the Egg steps off the top with the cry: "Whee! I am flying," readers see that, in fact, it is dropping like a stone. Various macabre means are used to try to repair the shell, but to no avail. The book ends with a contented fried egg on a breakfast plate and the words, "Luckily, the Egg was not wasted." The mixed-media and collage full-color art is quirky and inventive with multiple perspectives, and imbues the Egg with personality-quite a feat in itself. Pair this tale with Kara LaReau's Ugly Fish (Harcourt, 2006) and Jeanne Willis's Tadpole's Promise (S & S, 2005) for a delectably dark storytime for older children.-Marge Loch-Wouters, La Crosse Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Primary) As with most cautionary tales, things don't end well for the hero of Egg Drop. In fact, if you find Humpty Dumpty's fate disturbing, don't get too attached to this egg. "We tried to tell it, but of course it didn't listen. If only it had waited." A hen tells a barnyard of chicks this mock tragedy about an egg with its head in the clouds. Young and impulsive, the Egg dreams of flying and doesn't let lack of knowledge "about aerodynamics or Bernoulli's principle" stop it from pursuing its foolhardy goal. Climbing 583 steps to the top of a tower, the Egg leaps off the edge and, for a moment, thinks it's flying. "But the Egg was not flying. It was falling." The story is gleefully absurd, and Grey's illustrations are as bold as the Egg's lofty ambitions. The mixed-media collages feature dynamic, often surprising perspectives, dashes of wit, and an egg that's as expressive as an egg can be with only two eyes and short spindly legs. Inevitably, the Egg falls and can't be put back together again. The final double-page spread assures readers that "the Egg was not wasted." It's sunny-side up and about to be eaten for breakfast, but the Egg's beatific smile makes clear that it was all worth it. Hold fast to those dreams. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
"The Egg was young. / It didn't listen. / If only it had waited." This modern-day version of Humpty Dumpty (wall, fall, irreparable damage), first published in England in 2002, may prove as controversial as the comparatively benign Arlene Sardine (1998), by Chris Raschka, whose fishy heroine dies mid-book. Here, an egg wants desperately to fly and just can't wait for all that pecking-out-of-the-shell-and-flapping-its-wings business. Despite many warnings (and being ignorant of Bernoulli's principle, illustrated within), it climbs to the top of a 583-step tower and jumps. Gravity ensues. When the broken shell can't be repaired with tomato soup, Band-Aids or nails, the eggnow curiously intact and smiling like the Mona Lisais plated sunny-side up with bacon for an unseen diner's breakfast. Some children will laugh, two or three will never eat an egg again and, as usual, none will pay any attention when told "Wait until you're older." Grey's appealing, comical artworkwith soft watercolors, toasty warm palette and refreshingly varied perspectivesemploys bits of graph paper, photographs and other textures to wonderful, shattering effect. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
