Emma's Eggs

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

Emma is a chicken, a laying hen, and Emma’s Eggs is about Emma’s
confusion when she sees the farmer’s wife scrambling, boiling,
painting, or hiding her eggs. Emma’s attempts to copy the farmwife’s
behavior do not meet with approval. Unable (as Emma thinks) to please,
she finally does her own thing and hatches her first chick.

Bold, colorful full-page illustrations perfectly complement this comic
tale. Such details as a border pattern—which includes the seeds and
bugs that free-ranging Emma might find, and an eager mouse watching the
farm children paint Easter eggs—offer plenty of fun for observant
readers. The barnyard creatures provide an enthusiastic audience for
Emma as she tries to scramble one of her freshly laid eggs or paint one
purple. The animals’ lively faces parody human emotions. Highly
recommended for home and library.