Dianna Aston - An Egg Is Quiet

The author and illustrator wish to thank Frankie D. Jackson and Dr. Jack Horner, Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University; Blake Newton, the University of Kentucky; Pauline Tom, founder and president of the Texas Bluebird Society; Martha Tacha, wildlife biologist; and Fred Bervoets. Text 2006 by Dianna-Aston. Illustrations 2006 by Sylvia Long. All rights reserved.

Book design by Sara Gillingham. Handlettered by Anne Robin and Sylvia Long. The illustrations in this book were rendered in ink and watercolor. ISBN: 978-1-4521-3452-9 (mobi fixed format) ISBN: 978-1-4521-3458-1 (epub fixed format) ISBN: 978-1-4521-3455-0 (epib fixed format) ISBN: 978-1-4521-3313-3 (epub and web pdf) The Library of Congress has previously cataloged this title under ISBN-13: 978-0-8118-4428-4 Chronicle Books LLC 680 Second Street, San Francisco, California 94701 www.chroniclekids.com . To my mom, Candy Champion Hutts, who hatched me. A. A.

Welcome to the new hatchling in the Long family! Your Nana Long loves you dearly and will enjoy watching you discover the natural wonders of this World. ~ S. L. An egg is quiet. It sits there, under its mothers feathers... buried beneath the sand. Warm. Cozy. Cozy.

An egg is colorful. An egg is shapely. There are round eggs. Sea turtles dig a hole in the sand with their flippers and lay up to 200 soft, round eggs. Round eggs fit together nicely in tight spaces. When ladybugs hatch as larvae, their first meal is often the egg case they crawled out of. When ladybugs hatch as larvae, their first meal is often the egg case they crawled out of.

There are pointy eggs. Seabird eggs are pointy at one end, so if theyre laid on rock-ledges, they roll around in Safe little circles, not off the cliff: There are even tubular eggs. While most sharks give birth to live young, some sharks, like the lesser-spotted dogfish, begin life in a leathery egg case with tendrils. The tendrils anchor the eggs to seaweed so they wont be swept away by the ocean current. An egg is clever. The markings on some eggs help them blend in with their surroundings.

This is called camouflage . Camouflage is an eggs way of hiding. An egg might be speckled to resemble the rocks around it. Or it might be gray, the color of mud by a lake. An egg does not want to be eaten by a raccoon or a snake or a fox or an insect. Annas Hummingbird An ostrich egg can Weigh as much as 8 pounds. Annas Hummingbird An ostrich egg can Weigh as much as 8 pounds.

It is so big and so round, it takes two hands to hold one egg. Hummingbird eggs are the size of a jelly bean. It would take about 2,000 hummingbird eggs to equal the size of one ostrich egg. An egg is artistic. An egg is textured. and soft eggs Reptile eggs are often soft and Tubbery. and gooey eggs. Amphibian eggs are gooey. Amphibian eggs are gooey.

The goo keeps them from drying out. There are smooth eggs Most bird eggs are smooth. and rough eggs. The eggs of cassowaries, emus, and cormorants are rough. An egg might even be fossilized! An egg is giving. An egg gives the little creature growing inside it everything it needs.

The shell is its home. The yolk is its food. The egg white, or albumen, is its pillow. The shell is covered with teeny tiny holes, which allow air to enter. An egg is quiet. an egg is noisy!