Egg by Alex T Smith

Egg by Alex T Smith
Buy Egg by Alex T Smith at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Keith Dudhnath
Summary: A delightfully silly tale of a fox that wants to eat an egg. Alex T Smith's quirky illustrations help sell the absurdity. Recommended.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: October 2010
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-0340959855
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Egg rolls up to the house of the wicked Foxy DuBois. Foxy invites Egg in - she's always very kind to strangers - but she's got a glint in her eye, and has devilish plans for what she's going to do to the little egg. The clues are there: recipe books, and pictures of fried eggs adorning her walls. Be careful, Egg!

What a delightfully silly book! Alex T Smith has taken the well-worn themes of fox vs chicken and hatching egg, and embraced the absurd. Foxy's plan is to fatten up Egg, which somehow works (and works a bit too well!) They also play musical chairs and hide and seek - this is an egg with all the characteristics of an animal. It all makes a sort of sense as you're reading it, and even those bits that don't make sense, you're more than happy to go along with, because it's all just so much fun. It's silly, silly and silly some more, and that's what makes it brilliant.

Alex T Smith's illustrations fuel the enjoyment. They're in his wonderfully quirky style that worked so well in Bella and Monty: A Hairy Scary Night, and they give full rein to the silliness. If you're not in fits of giggles by and because of the back endpaper, there's something wrong with you! That egg sure does scrub up well!

The writing is punchy and vibrant, with plenty of little touches that will amuse its young audience - Egg rests his weary shell, wobbles with excitement, and rolls around the grand house. Well, what else could an egg do? Even if the closest the little ones have ever come to hearing about hatching is from having an Egg McMuffin, they'll still get the joke of the odd characterisation of Egg. Come the dramatic and sudden conclusion, it'll be smiles all round. Recommended.

My thanks to the publishers for sending it to Bookbag.

For more egg-hatching fun, check out Milo's Pet Egg by Rebecca Elliott. If quirky and unique illustrations amuse you, then you'll love When Titus Took The Train by Anne Cottringer and Sarah McIntyre. Silliness? Look no further than The Three Sillies by Tony Ross.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Egg by Alex T Smith at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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