What would you do if you came across a chicken that had laid an egg as big as herself? This very thing happens to the 12-year-old protagonist, Nate Twitchell in this beginner reader's chapter book. Although this book will need to be primarily read by a parent or caregiver, your child can certainly understand the plot and themes, as well as test their developing reading skills. Black and white pictures of various sizes bring the story to life, providing a starting point for your child's imagination to take off as they listen to the story unfold page-by-page. For those interested in dinosaurs, readers will learn all about paleontology, what dinosaurs eat, how they hatch, how big they get, and just about anything a five year-old would want to know about a triceratops. Nate Twitchell's narration is sure to entertain your child with his witty comments and casual tone, and you will feel as though you are just one of his friends. Nate says things like, "If I start explaining something you know already, just skip that part and go on." He will also bring a smile to your face with his childish simplicity, like when he explains that the family rooster's name is Ezekiel, after his great uncle, because "Pop says it's important to keep a name like that in the family."
The child narrator adds a voice to the story that your child will relate to. Nate spends more than a page trying to decide what he thinks may be in the giant egg before it hatches. He guesses "chick triplets or something." Ask your child what they think may be in that football-sized egg; the answers may surprise you! Nate also learns a great deal about responsibility throughout his adventure with the egg, which you can discuss with your child. Nate describes rotating and monitoring the egg every day until it hatches, and then monitors, feeds, and protects the dinosaur as it grows. Ask your child what they are currently responsible for, or maybe what they would like to be responsible for in the future, and how they would show that responsibility. This story offers multiple opportunities for learning and questions, so be prepared for your little one to get interested and want to help you read the book and may begin reading sentences and paragraphs to you.
My niece just turned five and absolutely loves books, so I knew this would be a fun read together. She is starting to read to me the books she loved when she was younger. But she also enjoys the longer and more detailed storylines of children's chapter books, so she has "grown-ups" read them to her. It took us only three days to get through The Enormous Egg, reading a few chapters at a time. Emily was so in to the book, it was hard to talk her in to taking a break for dinner! It was fun to see her understand the humor when Nate called his dinosaur a "tricerapops" one time, and a "triceraclops" another time. I was proud when she said, "No, no. It's Tri-sar-a-TOPS" with perfect annunciation!
--Audra