Whose Egg is That? by Darrin Lunde, illustrated by Karen Oseid (Charlesbridge, January 2023), is the perfect guessing book for a young reader learning about animals. I almost wrote “birds,” but since this book includes the platypus, labeling this a “bird book” would not be accurate! Only a few animals are covered, but it is just the right length for a young reader, as evidenced by my 7-year-old requesting repeated readings, despite the fact that I read a digital review copy of this book. (Picture books in digital format are not usual a preferred favorite medium for my young children.)
The simple, repetitive format of Whose Egg is That? nicely matches the attention span of the young listener. There are few words, yet it includes nonfiction facts. One two-page spread asks “Whose egg is that?” with a simple clue illustration (such as a feather, a wing, a foot-print in the sand). Then a detailed illustration of an egg (and plenty of white space) and give a single fact: it is blue, it is buried in sand, it looks like a rock. The next two-page spread names the animal, with an illustration of the animal in its habitat. The somewhat proportional picture of the egg is accompanied by a brief sentence or two explaining a fact about the egg, the animal, or the environment in which it appears.
As I mentioned, Who Egg is That? does not limit the eggs to birds’ eggs. Also included are a fossilized dinosaur egg and that of the platypus. I loved learning about the platypus, which is so often forgotten. I don’t remember learning about the platypus as a child. End matter provides two simple pages with another dozen facts about these and other eggs.
My daughter was delighted to see, on the back cover, that there are two other books in this series: Whose Poop Is That? and Whose Footprint Is That? We now are searching for those in our local library. I love it when a picture book captures a child’s attention in this way.
I read a digital review copy of Whose Egg Is That?
