"Tuft of grass and crunch of beetle.
Wisp of wind and sharp pine needle.
Drop of sweat and drop of tear.
Make my porcupine appear!
"Porcupines don't
hatch from eggs," a
spelunker called from
the darkness.
SNIVELING
SNAILS!"
My family and I really enjoy Beth Ferry's books. I highly anticipated seeing this one about a young girl who wakes one morning with a feeling that she is missing out on something. She scours the house to find what is making her feel that way. Nothing is remiss as she carefully checks. She leaves home to check the shops. With careful thinking she realizes that what she is missing is a pet.
Where will she get the money she needs? The only thing she can afford is the mystery pet. It costs all of her ten coins. The contents are surely a mystery; the box holds an egg in a nest. What can it be? Evelyn watches it and waits endlessly for something to break through the shell. Her worry about the egg leads her to the library and a librarian who provides the book she needs to learn what she can about it.
It must be a unicorn; a mountain climber puts an end to that thought. Using a second spell, she is determined it is a narwhal; wrong again. Could it be a porcupine? Do porcupines hatch from eggs? I think not! Evelyn's guesses seem endless. Spells done, and the trips of discovery end. Evelyn resorts to further waiting.
"Instead, Evelyn
cuddled her egg,
read to it,
sang to it.
And finally,
finally,
finally ...
CRACK!"
What a lovely, warm surprise!
Wonderful, ever-changing perspectives in the digital artwork carefully match the rhyming spells cast by the tiny witch. The repetitive 'sniveling snails' will win favor with young listeners who will offer help with assuring it is loud enough to have an effect.
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