AM I YOURS?

An errant egg politely asks for help in this prehistoric take on the “are you my mother?” theme.

Blown by the wind out of its nest and down a hill, the egg plaintively calls out, “Excuse me, please, / but am I yours? / I’m sure I am / a dinosaur’s!” But a succession of dinos are stymied: “What do you look like inside that shell? / I can’t see in so I can’t tell,” they all begin and then list their own signature characteristics in search of similarities. The conundrum deepens as, in response to each passer-by’s questions, the egg’s resident replies that, no, it doesn’t have spikes along its spine like Stegosaurus’, or a crest like Corythosaurus’, or teeth “sharp up top and down beneath” like Tyrannosaurus’. What could it be? Amid neatly laid out rocks and flowers, Latimer surrounds the enigmatic speckled egg with recognizable dinosaurs, rendered in bright monochrome hues and bearing visibly concerned expressions that are transformed into smiles when, finally, the setting sun illuminates a shadowy shape within the shell. The egg is rolled back up the hill, and finally its titular query is answered: “We are. We are! We are YOURS! / We’re two ECSTATIC pterosaurs”—just as hatching time arrives.

As cozy and safe as it is mannerly, with a patterned text well suited to storytime sharing with younger audiences.