Published: 12th February 2019
Publisher: HarperCollins
Illustrator: Pete Oswald
Pages: 36
Format: Picture Book
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – 5 Stars
In this follow-up to Jory John and Pete Oswald’s popular picture book The Bad Seed, meet the next best thing: a very good egg, indeed!
The good egg has been good for as long as he can remember. While the other eggs in his carton are kind of rotten, he always does the right, kind, and courteous thing. He is a verrrrrrry good egg indeed! Until one day he decides that enough is enough! He begins to crack (quite literally) from the pressure of always having to be grade-A perfect.
John’s books have fast become some of my favourites. This is another one I thoroughly enjoyed, there is such a wonderful humour that comes from the combination of illustrations and the words; the play off one another and there’s often so much to enjoy in the illustrations even when the words are self-explanatory.
The story is told through Egg’s eyes and he addresses the reader from the very start and continues to tell us his tale as the story goes on. The Good Egg tries his best to be good but he is surrounded by others in his group who misbehave and it stresses him out.
The “badness” of the other eggs are things kids can relate to like ignoring bedtimes, eating sugary cereal, and breaking things or throwing tantrums. Compared to the “good” behaviour like rescuing cats, and helping other people John contrasts how the Good Egg sees himself compared to the others in his carton.
I love Oswald’s design on the egg. The large egg and small face, with the oversized glasses is incredibly adorable. I also love how he shows his progression as he becomes more stressed at he behaviour of the others – the literally cracking of his shell is clever and his dishevelled appearance, while tragic, is incredibly humorous.
I am fascinated by the sentient foods because there is a clear and present danger of being eaten in these stories and yet the personified foods go about their lives normally. This works fine if you want to have a society of sentient food, but John has twice shown us there are humans in their world who will eat them which raises a few questions.
This is a great story about being your best self, but also about not letting the actions of other people get to you. There’s a wonderful message of self care, but also about trying to be perfect can be hard and there can be some balance in life that is still satisfying.
You can purchase The Good Egg via the following
QBD | Booktopia | Book Depository
Dymocks | Wordery | Angus and Robinson
Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible
Lost in a Good Book 