ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
PRESCHOOL
Fox, Mem

Early One Morning

32 pp. | Simon/Beach Lane | February, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-1-4814-0139-5 $17.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-4814-0140-1 $10.99
(2) PS Illustrated by Christine Davenier. Fox (Where Is the Green Sheep?, rev. 5/04; Ducks Away!, rev. 1/18) delivers another impeccably paced book, hitting every beat and every page-turn perfectly. A little boy sets off from a farmhouse "in search of a couple of things for his breakfast." A jaunty chicken follows the boy's movement around the farm, looking very curious and sometimes even imitating his motions. Davenier uses pen-and-ink washes to inject movement and gentle humor into each illustration, as the boy investigates a gate, a truck, a tractor, a haystack, a cow, and more. At each investigation, the boy moves on ("He came to a gate...but gates don't lay them"; "He came to a truck...but trucks don't lay them"). Davenier surrounds her images with lots of white space, situating the various objects and animals in a soft-green hilly landscape. Fox never names what the boy is looking for, instead saying, in direct-address text, "Well, YOU knew all along," as he returns to the farmhouse with a brown egg in each hand. The final page shows him happily eating his breakfast at last. Fox and Davenier seem exactly in sync, creating a picture book that allows children to both enjoy and tell for themselves the warm and funny story.
Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2021

RELATED 

PRESCHOOL

The Farmer and the Circus
by Frazee, Marla
PRESCHOOL

Bird House
by Gómez, Blanca
PRESCHOOL

The Crow and the Peacock
by Fernihough, Jo
PRESCHOOL

Something's Wrong!
by John, Jory
PRESCHOOL

Grandpa Across the Ocean
by Yum, Hyewon
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?