The Enormous Egg

by Oliver Butterworth

Other authorsLouis Darling (Illustrator)

Hardcover, 1956

Status

Available

Call number

BUTTERWORTH

Series

Nate Twitchell (1)

Genres

Children's Books

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

Little, Brown and Company (1956), 183 pages

Description

One morning Nate looked in the henhouse and saw the biggest egg he'd ever seen. Six weeks later, no one--not the townspeople, the scientific world, the senators from Washington-- was prepared for what hatched. Oliver Butterworth's funny story of a Triceratops in the twentieth century.

User reviews

LibraryThing member phebj

Who knew I'd be recommending a children's book--LT has truly broadened my reading interests. I learned about The Enormous Egg from a recent article on "comfort" books on the NPR website.

Oliver Butterworth (love the name) wrote The Enormous Egg in 1956. It's the story of Nate Twitchell, a

twelve-year old boy living on a farm in New Hampshire whose chicken lays a huge egg that hatches out as a baby dinosaur (a Triceratops, to be exact), which Nate names Uncle Beazley. With the help of Dr. Zeimer, a vacationing paleontologist from Washingon, DC that Nate meets while out fishing, Nate cares for Uncle Beazley and navigates the media frenzy that develops when word leaks out about the birth of a live dinosaur. Uncle Beazley doubles in size almost everyday and, with the approaching winter, Dr. Zeimer convinces Nate that moving him to the National Museum in Washington, DC is in his best interests. Once in Washington, government funding is required to pay for Uncle Beazley's care and Nate goes up against Senator Granderson who wants to outlaw all dinosaurs from the United States.

This is definitely a comfort book, probably best read with milk and cookies, and contains words like "jeepers", "fooey" and "slidy" (to describe how the dinosaur's skin felt). It's very well-written and while dated in some ways (the important people are all white men), it's eerily current in other ways (the media frenzy and the political posturing in Washington).

Recommended for kids of all ages. 4 stars.

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LibraryThing member Whisper1

A big thanks to Pat (Phebj) for recommending and then sending this book to me! What a sheer delight!

I took a vacation day today. It was a beautiful fall morning with cool showers that soaked the leaves of the multi-colored mums in the front of the house.

It was relaxing to listen to the drops softly

pelt the windows and glide down the panes while reading a joyous comfort book that brought smiles.

The plot isn't complicated. The tale isn't overwhelming. It simply is a story of a boy who has a pet...a large pet..a baby dinosaur hatched from an egg of his family hen.

Uncle Beazley grows at rapid pace, leaving Nat Twitchell to realize that he can no longer accommodate his friendly pal the triceratops.

With a wonderful friend who is a paleontologist, searching for a home for Uncle Beazley, they travel first to the National Museum in Washington, DC and then to the National Zoo.

A boy, a pet, a friend, supportive parents and a happy ending. What more could you ask for in a rainy day book?

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LibraryThing member SugarPlumFairy

My third grade teacher read this book aloud to our class, and it stayed with me well into adulthood. I could not remember the title, but remembered the story vividly. I was thrilled to stumble upon this book at my local Borders--I brought it home immediately to share with my then-kindergarten-aged

son, who loved it as much as I did.

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LibraryThing member ElizabethChapman

One of my childhood favorites. I was fascinated by dinosaurs and the idea of hatching your one of own was the ultimate fantasy. "The Enormous Egg" inspired me to fill a plastic garbage full of paper and keep it near the radiator in the hopes it would somehow "hatch." Alas, I was crushed when my by

feeble experiment disappointed, but luckily the book didn't.

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LibraryThing member ladytaluka

My son and I enjoyed this at first, but then it got a bit long. The idea was fun, but it took us quite a while to finish it.

LibraryThing member Brettical

This book is very funny and really lets you visualize whats happening. This is an ideal book if some one wants a quick read. LOTS OF PICTURES!

LibraryThing member porch_reader

My son's elementary school is sponsoring their 2nd annual One Book One School month. Each family gets a copy of the book to keep, and we all get a reading schedule. The kids talk about the book at school and at the end of the month, there is an activity night at the elementary. This year, the book

was [The Enormous Egg]. It was originally written in the 1950's and tells the story of a boy who finds an unusual egg in his chicken coop. The egg takes longer to hatch than a normal chicken egg, but it is worth the weight. The story held my third grader's interest, but I've also heard that the younger kids are enjoying it too. I love that this program gets the whole community talking about a book that is being shared by so many kiddos!

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LibraryThing member antiquary

Extremely funny story about a boy who finds a chicken has laid an enormous egg which turns out to be a triceratops. A friendly palaeontologist advising him on raising it, and when it is given to the National Zoo, a senator offers a bill in Congress to get rid of it, but the boy goes on TV and makes

an appeal, and the firestorm of response saves the dinosaur --surprisingly sophisticated politics for a children's story, Very nice amusing illustrations which catch the triceratops' [personality well.

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LibraryThing member dms02

I enjoyed the early parts of this book - quaint farm life turned upside down when an unusual egg is found in the hen house. We lost some steam for the plot towards the end. I would recommend it as a read aloud to anyone who has a dino fan among their listeners as I am sure it would spark some

interest.

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LibraryThing member wichitafriendsschool

Young Nate Twitchell is surprised when one of the hens on his family farm lays a giant egg. After a painstaking wait, Nate is even more surprised when it hatches and out pops a baby triceratops that he names Uncle Beazley! But when Nate decides to keep the dino and raise it on his own, he has no

idea what he's getting himself into. As Uncle Beazley grows, Nate and his family realize they are not equipped to take care of a full-sized dinosaur, and so with the help of their scientist friend, Nate and Uncle Beazley set off for the National Museum in Washington, D.C., on the hunt for the perfect home for a modern-day dinosaur---then the real trouble begins!

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LibraryThing member Abrahamray

Great children’s book about how a dinosaur egg was laid by a chicken & what happened next.

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