An Egg Is Quiet by Dianna Aston

This book is a lovely book about eggs and where they may be found. It is set out like a non-fiction narrative picture book, but is really an information book.

Each page discusses a different property of eggs: Where they are found, what they look like, their different colours, their different shapes, their disguises, their different sizes, their different patterns, their different textures and the different things that may be inside of them.

The book is apparently aimed towards year’s reception to two by the Premier’s Reading Challenge. I think this is accurate. The book would be a fabulous resource when studying a topic on eggs and animals. There is a lot of information in the book; each illustration has a description of what animal it came from.

A picture of a “tubular egg” from a dogfish has the caption; “While most sharks give birth to live young, some sharks, like the lesser-spotted dogfish, begin life in a leathery egg case with tendrils. The tendrils anchor the eggs to seaweed so they won’t be swept away by the ocean current.”

 I found this to be really interesting and make the book more interactive as the reader reads the large amount of captions accompanying the illustrations.

The illustrations by Sylvia Long are absolutely superb. I was captivated by the extreme detail in the illustrations and how many there were. There has been a great amount of effort put into this book. A great read for inquisitive students who love to read informative books and learn.

Dianna Aston's webpage: details of her other publications

 Some of Aston's other publications such as "The Butterfly is Patient" follow the same structure as "An Egg is Quiet" and are accompanied by the same beautiful illustrations.

By Emma Windebank