The Good Egg is a verrrrrry good egg, and that causes a pretty bad problem. This book is so interesting. I kept asking questions about what the eggs were doing and why. I thought the illustrations were really interesting.
The book, written by Jory John and illustrated by Pete Oswald, tells the story of one egg. One GOOD egg. This egg is perfect. He follows all the rules. He even tries to fix the other eggs’ bad behavior. He thinks of himself as good and it’s important to him that he’s good. And yet, despite his best efforts, his egg friends continue to misbehave. These not good eggs throw tantrums, break things, and only eat sugary stuff.
One day the good egg cracks. It’s hard to be good all the time and it’s even harder to try to make others be good. He’s sick of no one else seeming to care about being good. Mostly, he’s tired and feels scrambled. So, he decides to make a change. This is the part in the book where mom points out that change can start powerfully with a decision. That night he leaves the carton — and out there, on the road, sleeping under the stars (on a hammock!) he discovers how good it feels and how important it is to focus on himself. He reads books, paints, even floats down the river while sipping lemonade.
After a while, he chooses to return to the carton but brings his new outlook with him. He now worries less and is ok with not being perfect all the time. He’s happy to be home — in the chaos of the carton.
Mom says this is a great book to think about the things we can control and cannot control. She reminded me I’m only responsible for my own behavior though I can try to encourage the behavior I want from others. We also talked about the things I like to do, that are fun for me and calming. We talked about choices. We also talked about words like “always” and how it’s not always helpful to oneself to use words like that. Afterward, I went to the fridge to look at the eggs in the carton. Mom asked what I was doing. I told her I wanted to say hi to the Good Egg. I patted his head and said: good job.
Buy the Book on Amazon OR —Buy the Book on Bookshop
On the fence about this book? Don’t be Humpty Dumpty! Check out this cool The Good Egg book trailer instead!
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