From the Publisher
This is a book about transformations...from egg to chicken, seed to flower, and caterpillar to butterfly. But it's also a book about creativity as paint becomes picture, word becomes story...and commonplace becomes extraordinary.
The New York Times -
Sara London
The playground of perception seems to be Seeger's most natural arena. Her latest feat of ingenuity, First the Egg, is deceptively simple: It opens with an egg cutout, which, with a page turn, becomes a plump yellow chick; tadpole morphs into frog; seed grows into flower. But Seeger adds a metafictional twist: "word" segues into a handwritten draft of the story we're in the process of reading. A daub of pigment similarly evolves into a painted landscape incorporating chicken, frog and flower. Seeger's final pages bring us full circle: the chicken returns to its nest and lays "the egg!"…First the Egg arrives as an eye-catching reminder that "making it new" is always possible and that learning can be made sheer delight.
Publishers Weekly
In another nimble page-turner, Seeger (Black? White! Day? Night!)toys with die-cuts and strategically paired words. She introduces a chicken-or-egg dilemma on her book's cover, picturing a plump white egg in a golden-brown nest. Remove the die-cut dust jacket, and a hen appears on the glossy inner cover. The eggshell, thickly brushed in bluish-white and cream, also serves as the chicken's feathers. This "first/then" pattern is repeated ("First the egg/ then the chicken./ First the tadpole/ then the frog"), with a die-cut on every other page. By flipping a page, readers see the cutout in two contexts. For instance, when an ovoid shape is superimposed on a white ground, it's an egg; on a yolk-yellow ground, it's the body of a baby chick. Seeger lines up the recto and verso of every sheet, maintaining a casual mood with generous swabs of grassy greens, sky blues and oxide yellows on canvas. Given the exuberant imagery, the occasional cutout (like the fingernail-size seed of a blowsy peony-pink flower) looks none too impressive. But if minuscule die-cuts seem barely worth the trouble, they do imply the potential in humble sources. Seeger's clever conclusion brings all the elements together in an outdoor scene that returns readers to the opening: "First the paint/ then the picture . . . / First the chicken/ then the egg!" Ages 2-6. (Sept.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
Children's Literature
From the die-cut in the jacket with the title incomplete to the alternate illustration peeking through from the cover, this introduction to basic biology dares to be different. The words are very few; the lesson clear. Every other double page has a cut-out clue to the next. “First the EGG,” with the egg-shaped die-cut showing the egg, goes on to the next double page, “then the CHICKEN.” The die-cut has become the body of a hatching chick across the gutter from the full-grown chicken. “First the TADPOLE” moves on to “then the FROG,” with the cut-out becoming part of the evolving tadpole. The seed becomes the flower, the caterpillar the butterfly, with the chrysalis shown in between. The word becomes the story; the paint the picture. Then we return to the chicken and “the EGG!” about to crack open and start the cycle again. Almost crudely painted, richly textured pictures of the objects are set in unadorned spaces of varied colors. Large letters are placed to enhance the design of each spread, and a lesson in biology is strikingly taught. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz
School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 2 With brief text and vibrant artwork, Seeger describes familiar transformations in nature. The opening spread reads, "First the EGG." Textured backdrops painted in mustard yellow and rusty orange fill the eye and focus attention on a white egg that peeks through an oval-shaped die-cut from the next page. The following spread completes the thought, "then the CHICKEN," revealing a just-hatched chick and a fluffy white hen. Other similarly conveyed cycles include tadpole to frog, seed to flower, and caterpillar to butterfly. Finally, Seeger extends the concept to a broader sphere, with "First the WORD...then the STORY" and "First the PAINT...then the PICTURE," bringing the book full circle with an illustration that incorporates all of the highlighted entities, including the chicken-which then lays an egg. Throughout, the paintings focus closely on the items being described, and vivid color combinations and see-through die-cuts keep the art fresh and inviting. With its even rhythm, clearly expressed concept, and strong visuals, this book would make a great read-aloud for preschoolers; it could also serve as a beginning reader, a simple introduction to developmental biology, an example of logical sequencing, and a launchpad for creative writing.-Joy Fleishhacker, School Library Journal
Kirkus Reviews
A deceptively simple, decidedly playful sequence of statements invites readers to ponder, what comes first: the chicken or the egg? Carefully choreographed page turns and die-cuts focus on the process of change and becoming, so "First" sits alone on a yellow background, facing "the EGG"-an egg-shaped die-cut revealing a white egg against an orange-and-brown background. Turn the page, and "then" appears, the egg-shaped die-cut now forming the yellow body of a chick emerging from the shell, facing "the CHICKEN"-the white hen whose body gave color to the previous spread's egg. Tadpole and frog, seed and flower, caterpillar and butterfly all receive the same treatment, then word and story, paint and picture bring all the disparate elements together, nature being the catalyst for art. Seeger's vibrant, textured oil-on-canvas illustrations contain a wealth of subtlety, allowing the die-cuts to reveal cunning surprises with each turn of the page. Children and adults alike will delight in flipping the sturdy pages back and forth to recreate the transformations over and over again. Another perfectly pitched triumph from an emerging master of the concept book. (Picture book. 2-6)
(1 ratings)
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