Early One Morning

PreS-Gr 1–A young boy leaves his house in the morning to get breakfast, and readers are pulled into an engaging, deceptively simplistic, artfully rendered story that ends with two eggs. Incorporating literary devices such as parallelism and repetition and visual literacy cues for pacing and engagement, this collaborative piece is ideal for building critical thinking skills. Using pen and ink washes, Davenier uses white space to draw the reader’s eye toward the next moment. The warm palette, across mostly double-page spreads, creates a comforting and joyful mood. Fox’s words sink into the art, much like the young boy sliding down a haystack, as he searches for “what lays them.” As he encounters a gate, truck, tractor, cow, and other things, a sassy little hen marches behind him. Statements and questions are posed directly to the audience and, if read aloud, children will be jumping up and down to share the answer. It’s a hen! There are opportunities to pause and talk with listeners, which is always a bonus for developing early literacy skills, and the title promotes an understanding of rural life and where food comes from for urban dwellers.