The Easter Egg Farm

by Mary Jane Auch

Overview

An amusing story about a hen that lays eggs with different patterns on them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823410767
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	01/01/1992
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.25(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.16(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

"The Easter Egg Farm" is Mary Jane Auch's first picture book. "I've always wanted to illustrate children's books," she says, "but the ideas that came to me were for older children, so I wrote novels instead. Then one day I had an idea about a chicken, and I thought it would make a good picture book. I've loved chickens since I was little. "The Easter Egg Farm" was inspired by some special hens we raised when my children were young. The hens laid pastel-colored eggs. We never had a chicken as talented as Pauline, but one of our hens laid lavender eggs with pink spots-honest! Those eggs wouldn't hatch out on a sunny windowsill, though. Only magic eggs can do that."
Ms. Auch has written seven popular novels for Holiday House, including "A Sudden Change of Family and Kidnapping Kevin Kowalski". She majored in art at Skidmore College and was an illustrator for "Penny-whistle Press. She lives with her husband, Herm, and their tow children on a farm near Rochester, New York.

Editorial Reviews

Despite her yellow feathers, the personable Pauline is a hen of a different color--a sensitive fowl unable to ``concentrate in all the confusion'' of the henhouse. Her eggs, when they do appear, are of assorted vivid designs and colors, influenced by the objects she has just seen. Mrs. Pennywort, the farm's owner, senses an Eastertime gold mine and begins ``taking Pauline on field trips for inspiration.'' (At the museum, Pauline's Mona Lisa egg is a rare treasure.) Nature takes its course, however, and soon kaleidoscopic chicks emerge from the shells. In time Pauline's progeny produce their own coveted eggs, and mother enjoys a well-earned, colorful retirement. Judging from her energetic, tongue-in-cheek text, Auch has adroitly mastered the leap from middle-grade novels to picture books. Her rib-tickling illustrations feature a gangly, Modigliani-necked Mrs. Pennywort, (over)dressed to the teeth; an eminently expressive Pauline; and of course, those spectacular ovoids. One witty scene follows another--Pauline on point watching the ballet (more inspiration), beside a rhinestone-dripping Mrs. P.; the hapless lady desperately trying to glue cracked eggs back together. Eggs-actly right. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

K-Gr 3-- Mrs. Pennywort's hen, Pauline, claims she's ``just different'' because she can't lay eggs when she's pressured. When she does produce one, it resembles whatever was in sight at the moment--chicken wire, the sky, a ladybug, a butterfly, flowers, and later on, ballerinas and the Mona Lisa. Mrs. Pennywort realizes Pauline's talent could be quite lucrative, but before the designer eggs can be sold they start to hatch into chicks as multihued as the shells from which they come. The chicks grow up to lay vibrant eggs that would make any mother proud. Large, zany, cartoon-style paintings in bright colors are a perfect match for the comical story line, which is a little disjointed. But while it may not be a literary classic, the book has a kookiness that children will love, and its popularity won't be limited to the Easter season. It may also be used to inspire art projects. A similar theme for a slightly younger audience can be found in Kurt Wiese's Happy Easter (Puffin, 1989). --Heide Piehler, Shorewood Public Library, WI

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