EGG TO CHICK

by Millicent E. Selsam ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1970

From Mrs. Selsam's All About Eggs and May Garelick's What's Inside? the next step is Egg to Chick -- and after that Window Into An Egg, to complete the line of ascent. Following identification of the role of mother and father, of egg and sperm, and depiction of how they conjoin, this becomes in effect such a window as text and drawings delineate the developing embryo (equally the evolving embryo: ""in the beginning. . . an embryo fish and an embryo chick and an embryo man. . . look alike""). Suddenly, dramatically, at 21 days come photographs -- ""The chick pecks at the shell. . . . It takes many hours to split the shell all around. . . . Slowly the chick moves out of the shell. . . . Its legs are wobbly. Its feathers are very wet. . . . Now the chick is soft and fluffy."" Soon to run about and feed, and, in the final drawings, grow into ""hens and roosters like these."" Anticipating common questions, Mrs. Selsam notes that ""most of the eggs you buy in the grocery store nave not been joined by sperm"" (no such term as 'fertilize' appears): explains the insignificance of blood spots, the embryonic nature of white spots (which may then discomfort some children). The illustrations are workmanlike, well-labeled and not insensitive -- you won't blanch at the rooster mounting the hen. Without any to-do, it all seems part of a grand design and an individual accomplishment.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1970

Categories: CHILDREN'S