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Caldecott Monday: The Egg Tree
Sep. 5th, 2016 10:02 amThe Easter Egg Tree! The Easter Egg Tree! I love this book so much that I've been looking forward to it ever since I started the Caldecott project; I have in fact posted about it before, but there's always more to say about such a childhood favorite.
(Like the fact that it's actual title is The Egg Tree. I can't get this through my head; it sounds wrong to me.)
The illustrations are based on Pennsylvania Dutch designs, so they're full of bright, lively blocks of color - deceptively simple-looking, but capable of subtlety and great emotional power.
There's one illustration I particularly like, where Katy - who has been looking for Easter eggs all morning and finding not a one - at last finds some eggs in the attic, beautiful painted eggs kept in an old hatbox, and a shaft of light comes down from the ceiling illuminating the hatbox and the eggs and the intricate spiderweb underneath. It's the perfect evocation of this moment where she moves from near-despair (she's going to be the only child who doesn't find an egg!) to delight.
And, of course, having found these beautiful eggs, Katy and her cousins want to learn how to create them. This is a book about creation, and sharing your creations - everyone around wants to come see the beautiful Easter Egg Tree - which is a theme I always find beautiful in stories.
(Like the fact that it's actual title is The Egg Tree. I can't get this through my head; it sounds wrong to me.)
The illustrations are based on Pennsylvania Dutch designs, so they're full of bright, lively blocks of color - deceptively simple-looking, but capable of subtlety and great emotional power.
There's one illustration I particularly like, where Katy - who has been looking for Easter eggs all morning and finding not a one - at last finds some eggs in the attic, beautiful painted eggs kept in an old hatbox, and a shaft of light comes down from the ceiling illuminating the hatbox and the eggs and the intricate spiderweb underneath. It's the perfect evocation of this moment where she moves from near-despair (she's going to be the only child who doesn't find an egg!) to delight.
And, of course, having found these beautiful eggs, Katy and her cousins want to learn how to create them. This is a book about creation, and sharing your creations - everyone around wants to come see the beautiful Easter Egg Tree - which is a theme I always find beautiful in stories.
