A group of eager, expectant bird mothers (owl, chicken, cockatoo, flamingo, and others) is joined by an eggless duck, but he quickly finds a large, speckled egg to care for. The other mothers are not impressed by his odd ovoid discovery. Their disparaging gossip is soon abated by the hatching of their precious offspring, while Duck waits… and waits… and waits for his own baby to hatch. A straightforward narrative is the perfect complement for marvelous visual storytelling. The illustrations include a sequence of mini-reveals as a cascade of partial pages feature the arrival of a new avian offspring with each turn. Author/illustrator Emily Gravett also incorporates plenty of humor into her artwork (the newly hatched owl is spouting a lengthy mathematic equation), including a surprise ending that offers immense satisfaction for Duck, as well as readers and listeners. (Ages 3–7)

Everyone but duck has laid an egg. Disappointed, duck combs the neigh borhood and returns with the perfect egg, whose muddy green splotches du plicate duck’s own head feathers. Never mind that the egg is triple the size of Flamingo’s. Duck incubates his mammoth embryo and watches as his friends’ babies emerge as miniatures of their mamas. Comic watercolor illustrations, executed in subdued earth tones with crimson accents for parrot, flamingo, hen, and finch, conduct readers to the final surprise when duck’s egg finally hatches. Small hands experience additional surprises as staggered interior pages unfold to reveal each fledgling greeted by its mama . lmp

Originally published by Macmillan Children’s Books Great Britain, in 2008.