National Egg Month

An unexpected event prevented me from finishing this post yesterday as I had intended. My brother's dog was hit by a car and I ended up driving to his place to pick the little guy up and bring him to my house for a few weeks of recuperation... The whole day was tied up by these events and I apologize for the late finish of the post - things have not settled down much, if any, as our dog and his put together = hellacious scrambling, but I've got to have some resemblance to normal if I'm to survive these next few weeks!

It's National Egg Month!

May is National Egg Month. More eggs are sold in America during the Easter season - usually in April - than at any other time of the year. Then, sales go down, but the hens keep on laying eggs. After Easter, because the supply of eggs is normal but the demand for eggs is less, their price ordinarily goes down. Starting in May and running through the summer, eggs are usually an even better bargain than they are the rest of the year. Through the American Egg Board and other groups, the American egg industry celebrates National Egg Month in May to remind home cooks how good eggs are. Egg farmers want cooks to remember that eggs are nutritious to eat and simple to make in many different ways. . . plus eggs are especially easy to afford from May until the end of summer.

-American Egg Board

Gregory, Valiska.
Sunny Side Up.
1986.
Macmillan Publishing Company.

Mr. Poggle and Scamp meet daily for breakfast. Mr. Poggle has planned eggs, served sunny-side up for today's meal! However, as the yolk breaks in Scamp's egg, his smile turns sunny-side down. The toast burns... They forgot to make the orange juice... breakfast seems to be a disaster until Mr. Poggle comes to the rescue and shows Scamp how to enjoy it and make the most of it!

This is a cute book and despite its being published 23 years ago, it definitely passes on an important thought to kids in a way they will be able to connect with!

MacDonald, Elizabeth.
Mr. MacGregor's Breakfast Egg.
1991.
ABC/The All Children's Co.

In this book, children will be able to see how one event can impact all others in just a single day. Before the day can officially begin and go off without a hitch, Mr. MacGregor must have a fresh egg from the little brown hen that lives on the family's farm. However, when Mr. MacGregor's son Jamie goes to fetch the egg, the hen won't lay it because there is no feed. Mr. Cameron can't deliver the feed because Mr. MacGregor won't whistle to Shep until he's had his breakfast. Shep won't herd the sheep to the hillside because Mr. MacGregor hasn't whistled. The sheep are blocking the man on the motorcycle, who's blocking the drummers in the van, who are blocking the boys who are trying to go camping, who are blocking the cattle from getting to their grazing ground, who's preventing Mr. Cameron from delivering the feed, which is the only way that Mr. MacGregor's day can begin! Jamie comes to the rescue though, running to Mr. Cameron's truck and asking for a handful of seed to take back to the hen.

It's a funny adventure that definitely shows children how a cycle of events takes place!

Friend, Catherine.
The Perfect Nest.
2007.
Candlewick Press.

This is a really really cute book! Jack the Cat has one great plan in mind! He's going to build the "perfect nest" to attract the perfect hen who will then lay the perfect egg so Jack can have a perfect omelet for breakfast! He sets to work and builds the nest. The nest is so perfect, in fact, that it attracts not only a chicken, but also a duck and a goose, all of which lay eggs in the nest. Jack is excited! He has not one egg, but three, which will make three omelets... or so he thinks! The three birds begin arguing over who the nest really belongs to and all wind up sitting on the nest. Jack goes to extreme measures to try and rid the nest of the three birds, claiming a fire, a flood and even "wolf." But nothing works. Instead, he tricks them away from the nest by claiming at the next farm there's an even better nest. Just as Jack reaches the nest to claim the eggs for himself, they begin to hatch! Suddenly, Jack becomes the mother of these three new babies and he's not at all amused! As time progresses, Jack realizes that his new job of "mothering" the babies and sitting on the nest with them does make it a "perfect nest" even though he never saw the "perfect omelet!

This is definitely worth the read!!!

If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com.