Wednesday, July 25, 2007

If I were an egg, I too would be cracked

I just finished Eggs by Jerry Spinelli, a super great children's author, and have decided I don't like it's title. When I first picked it up I thought to myself, if I were an egg I would be a bit cracked. The characters in this tale are surely that. A bit cracked, but further than that and an Easter egg hunt I can find the correlation between the title and the content. True, without the Easter Egg hunt there would be no story, but I think there could have been something better, more catchy and more applicable.



The story is an engaging tale of two children searching, or yearning for what they are missing. The create a unique pair, more like siblings than friends, that do very little besides bicker through the majority of the story. David met Primrose after he attended an Easter egg hunt he didn't even want to go on in the first place. Primrose was "playing dead" underneath one of the hidden eggs. David goes weeks or months without seeing Primrose again, but when he does he sure makes a scene of things.

As I continued reading I kept waiting for the climactic moment when these children would realize those around them loved them, and although there were people missing from their lives, they could continue to have wonderful lives without them. It never really came. I enjoyed the story anyway. David and Primrose are easy to like and you want for them to be happy. They have mini-adventures not like typical children have (like painting a van and using it as your home or making sure you follow all the rules you can possibly think of) and it is easy to picture the emotion and connection the characters in this story create.

Eggs is a quick read that will make you think about living without family and realizing, even when you didn't think it was possible, there are others too that care. I do recommend you read this book, but I wouldn't put it in my number one spot.

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