Have you ever really looked at an egg? Springtime links

Have you ever really looked at an egg?
It's oval and white with slimy stuff inside the shell.
Have you ever really looked at an egg?
If you keep it outside in the sun all day it will smell.

-- Peter Himmelman, Have you ever really looked at an egg?

 

In no particular order, some things that I think go together on this day that is struggling to be springtime.

First out of the gate, for today's Nonfiction Monday, Travis at 100 Scope Notes says "do you ever think about trees?" which is what put me in mind of this Peter Himmelman song in the first place. If you are a consumer of pop music written for kids, you really must get your hands on My Green Kite. Sly, open-hearted songs about baseball, feet, parents, food, and the feel-good power-pop title track.

 

"Among the Redwoods" by A. E. Ericson.

Anyway, today Travis reviews Celebritrees: Historic and Famous Trees of the World, which I did last week. Sometimes Travis gets to a book first, sometimes I do, but as sure as night follows day, Travis and I will review the same picture books! That boy has marvelous taste. In case you or Travis wanted, as I did, to see actual photos of the celebrated angiosperms and gymnosperms in Margie Preus's book, Neatorama featured many of them in this post from a few years ago.

Also for Nonfiction Monday, Shelf-Employed reviewed Roxie Munro's new book, Hatch!, which am looking to get my hands on due to the strength of this review. I am also going to find a copy for my son's 2nd grade teacher, who every year around this time sets up an incubator in the classroom to teach the OMG IT'S ALIVE lesson. Most ancient story in the world, but it never gets old.

 

I used to keep chickens (that's Barge, above), but those stories are too tragic to recount here. I don't mind swearing or getting off-track in my reviews of children's literature, but the fate of my beautiful birds, no, that's just too harsh.

Now I get my chicken kicks vicariously through friends and family. My cousin just got some chicks, and my friend Kate. Eventually, anyone who spends much time with chickies comes to the conclusion voiced in the second-to-last line of this post by SJ, in which she describes moving the chicks to the garage. It's funnier than that makes it sound. Plus there's video.

Looking forward to Katie Davis's new book Little Chicken's Big Day. There's a special secret book trailer that I got to see, featuring... mmm-hmmm MOAR CHICKS. Talking chicks! Cute!

I swear, I could watch chickens all day.

Bunnies, though, bunnies are boring to watch. I am thinking about them though, because the peas we planted in February are coming up, and I want the daggone bunnies to NOT EAT THEM. But I am glad that the bunnies that hop idiotically around my yard are not Giant Prehistoric Bunnies. Of all the things that used to come in the Giant Prehistoric Size - for example, rhinoceroses, deer, sloths, chickens - rabbits have to be among the stupidest.

But in honor of those Giant Prehistoric Bunnies, io9 did a list of the scariest freakin bunnies in The Genre Formerly Known as Sci-Fi. Hated that thing in Twilight Zone - The Movie. Brr. But the good folks at io9, who know an awful lot about movies and vinyl figurines and all that, know just about squat about kidlit - they forgot Andrea Beaty's Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies, reviewed on Pink Me a while ago and never seen on the library shelf since. Hand it to one kid, and that kid will hand it to another. But isn't that strange - I could have sworn I reviewed that book, I know we enjoyed it... weird.

Let's review. Chickens. Bunnies. Peas. Must mean only one thing: a major chocolate holiday approaches. Or... I don't myself believe that marzipan is fit to eat, but aren't these cute? Bunnies and chickies. Awww.