First the Egg

by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Other authorsLaura Vaccaro Seeger (Illustrator)
Hardcover, 2007

Call number

E S

Publication

Roaring Brook Press (2007), Edition: First, 32 pages

Description

A picture book about transformations.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Junep
Beginning with the die cut on the cover, which completes the title and hides a secret underneath, this delivers a string of delightful surprises as Seeger crisply explores the stages of development in the natural world and, then, how a story grows. Thickly textured backgrounds provide visual energy
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for minimalist images that cleverly incorporate additional die cuts. “First the EGG,” reads the text on the opening spread, which pictures the egg through an appropriately shaped hole. When children flip the page, they’ll find a fuzzy chick and its adult counterpart—“then the CHICKEN.” So it goes through the life stages of frog, flower, and butterfly. Suddenly, Seeger turns away from nature. “First the WORD,” she writes, “then the STORY.” “First the PAINT . . . then the PICTURE,” accompanied by a painting that pulls the book together, showing chicken, flower, frog, and butterfly enjoying a beautiful day together. A funny finale sets up the book’s beginning. Pages are sturdy enough to support poking fingers and repeated viewings, both of which are guaranteed
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LibraryThing member kateweber
In very simple terms, explores the relationships between the young and mature forms of things, e.g. egg: chicken, seed: flower. Uses cutouts and highly textured oil paintings on canvas for illustrations.
LibraryThing member bplma
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Seeger's beautifully illustrated picture book details the progression of several living things --egg then chicken, tadpole then frog--simply at first---carefully progressing to word/writing, paint/picture, finally leading us to the satisfying and clever
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lifecycle conclusion...back to egg! Accurate and cleverly written, this beautiful book will is certain to inspire lively conversations about the circle of life. A winner!
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LibraryThing member mayalanda
This is a beautiful, simple, and appealing book. It's as nice as "Lemons are not red" by the same author.
LibraryThing member dc061140
This book was about sequencing and transformations. The book begins and ends with the famous "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?' along with other before and after subjects like tadpole to frog, seed to flower and paint to picture. The book is cleverly illustrated. Colors were selected to
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show the transformations.

My favorite part of the book was when the author stated," words came first, then the story." I think it is important for the kids to learn vocabulary to increase their ability to make great stories.

I could use this in the classroom as a secquencing exercise. It could also be used as a science lesson.
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LibraryThing member emgriff
A simple, clever book shows the development of impressive things from humble sources. Using cutouts and bold, thick paint strokes, Laura Vaccaro Seeger transforms an egg into a chicken, a tadpole into a frog, even a words and paint into a story and picture about these natural wonders. Part of the
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cleverness of this book is the fact that the cutouts form pictures on both the front and back of the page. The oval egg, for example, forms the body of a chick when the page is turned and reveals a full-grown hen. This intermediate step helps bridge the gap between beginning and end, showing the development in more detail. The repetitive sentence structure (First the ___, then the ___) makes this a book even very young children will be able to master reading by themselves. The end comes full circle as we see "first the chicken, then the egg!" This is an original book which addresses big concepts in a fresh way and is highly recommended for libraries which serve preschoolers and kindergartners.
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LibraryThing member mickmyster13
I love this book. I think it has wonderful pictures for nonreaders and it has easy text for begining readers. I also love the cut outs on every other page, I think they really add to the imgaination and make the bok very interactive. This is a book I hope to add to my collection some day. It is
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also educational. First comes the egg then comes the chicken, first comes the tadpole then comes the frog etc....
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LibraryThing member macfly_17
This is a simple book, but the art work is amazing.
LibraryThing member Kchiotti
This is a good picture book for children that are just starting out to read and discover the world. Each page depicts a different "first" and the result of that. First the Egg and then the Chicken. First the tadpole and then the frog. It is very informational for the young one.
LibraryThing member djmeyers
The artwork in this book was beautiful oil paintings. I love it when the illustrator chooses to make use of the whole page in his artwork. Creative use of cut-outs makes this book very interesting as you are trying to guess what might be next. Several authors have utlilized this cut-out method with
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great success, and Mrs. Seeger is no exception.
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LibraryThing member netaylor
First the Egg is a story of transformations. Each transformation is illustrated with fun and interactive cutouts that encourage the imagination to build a story. This story utilizes simple sentences and illustrations to move the reader in a full circle of birth, growth, and birth.
LibraryThing member morgantk
I liked the die cut pages. It was fun to watch how each picture was created into something new as you turned the pages. I though Laura included several different interesting connections within her book egg-chicken, tadpole-frog, etc. to word-story, paint-picture. I liked the full circle feature of
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the book. It was neat to see the ending the way it started.
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LibraryThing member jodyjlittle
Sets of cause and effect relationships such as "First the Egg, then the Chicken" and "First the seed, then the flower" make up this colorful picture book. The author illustrator uses vivid colors and simple paintings which almost explode on each page. Few additional details allow the cause and
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effect relationships to be the focus.
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LibraryThing member missrader
A simple story about lifecycle and order. It uses few words and has simple illustrations. The illustrations are vibrant and include cut-outs which make them more interesting.
LibraryThing member sroeck
This is a fun book about how things transform and sequence. There are fun cut outs and it is fun to see how each cut out is used on both sides of the page. The sentences are short and simple. The illustrations are beautiful paintings.
LibraryThing member BKPietz
I did not expect this to be die-cut pages, so I really enjoyed the surprise of this book. I think she cleverly incorporated three steps to each item (e.g. egg, chick, chicken). I love how she brought the idea full circle from "First the egg" to "First the chicken," and that the design of the book
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is carried onto the cover pages. I also like that you can see the page and paint textures in the pictures.
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LibraryThing member SJeanneM
I loved this book. It was simple enough for my kinder to read it to me after I read it to her and it made sense to all the kids that were listening although they were a little confused on how the egg can come first and the chicken can come first, but I just explained that everyone was confused by
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that.
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LibraryThing member ErikSalvail
This book has a beauty in its simplicity and style to draw the curiosity of a child who is learning to read. The color and cut sections engage the reader (or viewer), and adds a special something to the life cycles of the various lives of the animals and plants. I highly recommend this book for a
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child’s first book collection.
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LibraryThing member chardesty06
This is a great example of an informational book, because it makes true statements about everyday life occurences. It provides a good foundation for children learning the basics about growth and development. The author gives several examples of, "First this happens, then this happens...", which
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shows children that life is full of processes and transformations.
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LibraryThing member derekgries
This book was a Page turner! Great illuatrations laid under a great story. Seeger is really trying to insire her readers to get creative and write a story or piant a picture. The art in this book is unique, some pages have cut outs tha borrow color from the pages behind them.
LibraryThing member shumphreys
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This creative cut-out picture book has pictures that separate and reform as you turn the pages, illustrating the ideas just as well as the few words accompanying them. Very simple, very easy to follow for all ages.
Grades K-2. Wide appeal. Read-aloud and
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independent reading.
Strengths - Simple illustrations, creative transformations of pictures.
Weaknesses - None.
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LibraryThing member lnaeole
I always enjoy these classic riddles and especially the layout in which the author chose to use. The cut outs all go together and makes each new page that much more exciting to explore.
LibraryThing member neilliej
The book addresses the age-old question of whether the chicken or the egg came first. According to this book, first came the egg, then the chicken. To further the learning, the development of butterflies, frogs, flowers, and stories is also shown. The illustrations are beautiful and provide a hole
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to the next illustration. So, the little egg that we see on the first page, turns into the little chick on the next. The author's brilliant illustrations bring the simplicity of the book to life.
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LibraryThing member Porscha89
This is a very cute book on how different things in life start. Everybody always ask what came first. Was it the chicken or the egg? It shows how things arent what they start out to be. The cut out's in the book also make children wonder whats coming next.

I have always wondered myself rather the
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chicken or the egg came first. It can be a mind boggling questions!

This would be a good book to use when talking about how animals grow. I would use this book during science or animal week. I would have the children think of other things that start off as something and as it grows it changes into something new.
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LibraryThing member juliabaird1
This is a simple but effective book for discussing the life cycle and development process of things. It also uses cut outs which creatively use the colors from the next page to incorporate design and draw attention.

Pages

32

ISBN

1596432721 / 9781596432727
Page: 1.726 seconds