Review Detail

EARLY ONE MORNING is a picture book walk around a farm. A little boy heads out to find a couple of things for his breakfast. He notices that the tractor doesn't lay them, nor does the truck, nor cow, nor so many other things on the farm. So who does lay them? The reader may have known all along. The book ends with the boy and his caregiver eating the eggs for breakfast.

What I loved: This was a simple and whimsical look around the farm. The illustrations are intriguing, with a sketch-like quality and full of items and animals around the farm. The little boy has a chicken following him around the farm the whole time to add a touch of comedy. The writing is very simple with repetitive language as he searches for what lays the "things" he needs for breakfast.

What left me wanting more: The book never explicitly says that they were looking for eggs, and this may confuse some readers without additional context from a caregiver. The book also suddenly changes to second person at the end and does not quite draw the conclusions that would be helpful for young readers the simple phrasing suggests it would work best for (caregivers can spell these out for curious readers though).

Final verdict: EARLY ONE MORNING contains entertaining images of a boy and the chicken going around a small family farm looking for "things" for breakfast. The simple and repetitive phrasing would work well for toddlers alongside caregiver explanations.