Early One Morning

Starred review from November 23, 2020
It’s morning on the farm, and a copper-haired, pale-skinned boy in bright blue overalls leaves his house “in search of a couple of things for his breakfast.” A white hen with a bright red comb and wattle is shocked when the boy takes his quest beyond the farmhouse gate, and no wonder: close observers of the book’s opening spread will see that the henhouse is within its boundary. With the hen at his heels, it becomes clear that while the boy will retrieve two eggs eventually, he’s going to first make a roundabout, Family Circus–style loop to check out his farm faves: the green pickup, the red tractor, the haystack, and friendly farm animals. Fox (Roly Poly) notes each stop (“He came to a haystack”) and confirms that it doesn’t have what he seeks (“but haystacks don’t lay them”). Davenier (Emily Writes) chronicles this confident perambulation with luscious watercolor hues and paint strokes: readers can sense the fragrant hay and the velvetiness of the big brown cow. Getting there isn’t just half the fun in this pleasing farm ramble—it’s all of it. Ages 4–8.

April 1, 2021

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. VERDICT Art pairs with breezy storytelling for a tale aimed at emerging readers.-Rachel Zuffa, Case H.S., Racine, WI

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2021
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. Susan Dove Lempke

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2021
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.

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)