Raising Readers: The Enormous Egg

Parents who encourage and successfully develop children who read see greater school success and satisfaction. This series reviews various examples of children’s literature and provides insights for parents to discuss with their children. Reading and sharing the wonderful stories available to children sends a message that reading is important, creates positive “shared experiences” for families, and helps parents exert a subtle influence on their children’s development.

Young Nate Twitchell is a typical, small-town New Hampshire boy who is drawn into a very atypical situation: a hen on their farm has laid an egg that is ENORMOUS. Everyone is perplexed about the egg, and Nate begins to watch over it. A college professor who is summering nearby learns of the egg and becomes very interested in learning of the outcome. The outcome is unbelievable: a baby dinosaur hatches—a baby triceratops, no less. What follows is a series of hilarious situations as Nate begins to care for his new “pet” (named Uncle Beazley). While the story is an exciting and humorous page-turner for young readers, it also manages to quietly include some good information and good lessons.

Nate quickly learns that caring for something is a lot harder than he imagined.  Yet, he sticks to it—even as Uncle Beazley outgrows his pen and the amount of food he needs becomes a problem. Nate also learns that others can be very selfish when they learn of Uncle Beazley: some children view Uncle Beazley as nothing more than an interesting plaything and some adults want to use him so they can get rich and/or famous. Nate turns down their proposals and tries to figure out what is best for Uncle Beazley.

The college professor, Dr. Ziemer, is a paleontologist who specializes in dinosaurs. Along with Nate’s parents, they find a way of providing the care Uncle Beazley needs, while at the same time, letting scientists observe and study this once-in-a-lifetime event. The reader is also introduced to one of the basics of natural science: Dr. Ziemer teaches Nate how to observe and take frequent measurements (length, height, weight, etc) as Uncle Beazley grows. Dr. Zeimer further explains that, while Uncle Beazley’s existence is a very strange incident that can’t be fully explained, there is evidence from his studies to confirm that birds and dinosaurs have the same ancient roots.

The Enormous Egg builds on the universal childhood fascination with dinosaurs and tells a fun and educational story. Depending on reading level, this book is for 8 year olds and up.

Raising Readers is written by Steve Arnold of Club Z! In-Home Tutoring Services.  He can be reached at 610.831.5101 or ChesMontClubZ@gmail.com. Find out more about Club Z! In-Home Tutoring at www.clubztutoring.com/ChesMont.