Egg Drop

July 13, 2009
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 naïveté, but those of fragile constitution should proceed with care. Ages 4–8.

June 1, 2009
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 personalityquite 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"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2009
Preschool-G Grey offers an amusing, if slight, cautionary tale about rushing to undertake something for whichone is not quite ready. Theone 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 Dumptyesque attempts at patching the poor egg back together. Even more than in Greys terrific Traction Man books, the artwork does most of the heavy lifting here. Eye-catching elements adorneach imaginatively composed spread, each one uniquely employing distinct perspectives, punchy close-ups and wide shots, and even some subtle collage. The bit on Bernoullis Principleis, 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 eggs sunny-side-up fate.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)