Seeger, L. V. (2007) First the Egg. New York, NY:Roaring Book Press.
Brief Annotation: This beautiful book introduces readers to the concept of young and old throughout the natural world. The book presents first an egg, then a chicken, first a tadpole then a frog. It takes this concept a step further showing first a word then a chicken, demonstrating that even our ideas have an infancy and maturation.
Genre: Concept book
Grade Level: Pre-K - 1
Readers who will like this: Readers who like predictable patterned text. Readers who like simple, colorful illustrations. Readers learning about young and old pairings.
Response/Rating (1-4): 3 I don’t particularly enjoy this genre, but I liked the way this author took a familiar adage and used it to create a beautiful book. The real stars of this book are the illustrations. They are textured to look like paintings on canvas and are done in vivid colors.
One question you would ask before a read aloud: Which came first the chicken or the egg?
Reading Strategies Connection: Make a colaborative book 9tompkins 25). Each student will contribute a page which they write and illustrate themselves. The patterned predictable nature of this text lends itself readily to creating a class book. Children can each choose and research an old/young pair and then create their own page following the author’s “first…then…” pattern. The individual pages can all be compiled into a class book.