THREE HENS, A PEACOCK, AND THE ENORMOUS EGG

Farm life will never be the same.

In this follow-up to Three Hens and a Peacock (2011), a truck passing the Tuckers’ farm accidentally drops a crate containing the titular enormous egg. Three hens—Mildred, Martha, and Mabel—investigate alongside the farm’s old hound and a peacock. None of the chickens are large enough to sit on the egg to keep it warm, so a schedule is made in which the old hound keeps the egg warm during the day and the three hens team up with the peacock to keep it warm at night. All the while, they try to imagine what could be inside. The egg finally hatches to reveal what appears to be an ostrich (though it’s never identified as such by the text). The farm doesn’t go back to normal, because, as revealed on the endpapers, the light-skinned Tuckers also had a baby. The end. Wait...what? For all the buildup of the egg, the chick gets only a few lines of attention before the book concludes and we see the animals abruptly shift focus to the Tuckers, who are admiring a bundle in a crib. Though Cole’s acrylic, oil, and colored pencil illustrations depict a cozy farm setting, the animal inhabitants making for an expressive crew, readers will be mystified by the sudden swerve and stop, so much so that keenly sensed caregivers may actually hear the squealing of brakes when the final pages are reached. It’s an odd, hindered ending to what started out as an interesting tale. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An out-of-nowhere conclusion will confound youngsters eager for a story of farmyard fun.