Children’s Literature Evaluation Form

Your Name: Samantha Wasylkowski

Book Title: The Good Egg

Author: Jory John

Genre: Picture Book

Illustrator: Pete Oswald

Publisher/Year: Harper Collins, 2019

Evaluate the Book for the following elements
Style and Language: Using examples for the book, explain the following: Word choices, dialogue,

rhythm, rhyme and sentence length. Share unexpected insights or interesting information the

reader learns from this story. (5 points)

The word choices in this book are easy for children to understand, the author uses words that are

already in children’s vocabulary like “good”, “bad”, “bedtime”, “broke”, “cried”.

The sentence length is as if you were talking in real life, not all the sentences are the same length,

and some add dialogue. “I found simple moments to be quiet.” “I took walks.” “My doctor said it

was from all the pressure I was putting on myself.”

Dialogue: “’I can’t be the only good egg in a bad carton’ I said. ‘Blah, blah, blah’ they replied.”

“Hello, Meg. Greetings, Clegg. Aloha, Shelly.”

Character: With examples from the book, provide the following- (5 points)

Who is the main character?

How can the reader relate to the character?

Who are the supporting characters?

The main character in the story is the good egg. The supporting characters in the story are the

eleven bad eggs. The reader can relate to the character of the good egg because sometimes kids are
in class and doing the right thing, but their classmates are not. Or at home, if the children have

siblings, they could also relate by their siblings (or themselves) doing the right thing and themselves

(or their siblings) not doing the right thing.

Plot: Summarize the major events of the story (6 points)
The beginning of the story starts where you see the good egg doing all the good things and he

explains that his brothers and sisters are bad eggs. The good egg tries to get his siblings to do the

right thing but it causes him to ‘break’. The good egg tells his siblings he is leaving, he wonders

around, spends a lot of quiet and alone time. The good egg realizes that he doesn’t have to be good

all the time and he doesn’t have to try to get his siblings to be good all the time either. He goes back

to his home with his siblings because he misses them and they miss him, too.
Setting: Explain the place and time of this book. (2 points)

Theme: What is the main message of this book? (2 points)

The setting of this story starts out in a small town. It shows the egg carton in the farmers market

where the good egg and his siblings are. The good egg is shown leaving the small town for the

wilderness but then goes back to the small town in the end. “Even in my earliest days back at the

store.” “There were a dozen of us living under one recycled roof.”

The theme of the story is no one is always perfect and that is okay. Also, you cannot change others

behaviors and actions unless they want to change themselves.

“Here is what I realized, the other eggs aren’t perfect and I don’t have to be either.”
Illustration: Analyze the book you selected with the following categories
Style (realism, surrealism, expressionism, impressionism, naïve, cartoon art)? (2 points)

The style is naïve, child-like illustrations. I also see a sense of expressionism where the eggs are

shown bigger than actual eggs are to give a sense of importance.

Media Choice (paints, oils watercolors, pencils, pen, charcoal, crayons, acrylic, chalk): (2 points)
Painterly media
Give examples of describe how the following visual elements are used in the illustrations: (3)

Line: On the first page, the straight vertical lines of the city buildings in the background suggest a

stoic look. However, the curved lines of the tree and branches of the foreground suggest

movement. (The good egg is climbing a tree to rescue a cat.)

Shapes: There are many curved shapes throughout the book, which suggest things found in nature

that are organic and alive. You see eggs, animals (cat and hen), trees, a rocky canyon, and plants.

You also see angular shapes, which are inorganic objects, built by humans like the town, the

buildings, the farmers market.

Color: Throughout the book, the background images are achromatic. They are black, white, and

gray. On page four, the background is achromatic of the house, tree and yard. However, the good

egg is painting the house, tree, and piece of bread and he is colored brown, the bread is also tan,

and the colors he is painting on the house, tree and yard stand out and are vibrant. The colors the

illustrator uses on this page are blue, pink, green and yellow which are both “cool” and “warm”.

Texture: On page two, you see an up-close image of the good egg where the illustrator added little

specks and dots in similar colors to the base color of the egg to suggest the texture of an actual egg.

When the good egg visits the doctor the page next to it shows another up-close image of the good

egg but this time you see thick lines in a zigzag to depict the cracks the egg has endured in addition

to the same specks and dots the original egg had which shows even more texture.
Page design (placement of the illustrations, use of borders, white and dark space and all pages the

same or different). (3)

The page design varies throughout the book. There are twenty-four pages where the illustration

takes up the entire individual page. On eight pages, the illustration is done in smaller frames, at
least two to seven different illustrations over one to two pages. Only two illustrations throughout

the book cover both pages.

Child Development Theory: Choose either Piaget, Erickson or Social Emotional to describe the

connection to the book Chose 1 only (5 points)

Emotional Development

Identify the age: 3 to 6 years.

Explain the social development for this age and how the book relates to the emotional level you

chose:

Behavior and cognitive strategies help create emotional self-regulation. More accuracy and

complexity in understanding consequences, causes and behaviors signs.

The book relates by telling the audience about the good egg and what he does to be considered a

good egg. It also, tells the audience about the bad eggs and what they do to be considered bad eggs.

“The other eleven eggs weren’t on their best behavior…” “They ignored their bedtime.” “They threw

tantrums.” “They cried for no reason.”

“I was just rescuing this cat, know why? Because I am a good egg.” “I’ll carry your groceries.” “I’ll

water your plants.” “If you need any help whatsoever, I am your egg.”

Your rating of the book: 3, I would highly recommend this book.

I would highly recommend this book because the message it teaches is great that we all have

moments where we are good eggs and bad eggs but that does not mean we are perfect or bad. The

illustrations easily capture the attention of the children. The book has a good flow throughout and is
 humorous.

Book Extension Activity (25 points)

Your Name: Samantha Wasylkowski

Book Title: The Good Egg

Book Author: Jory John

Publisher: Harper Collins

Date: February 12, 2019

1. Pre-K/CCSD K-2nd Grade Core Standard (5 points)

 2.PK.2 Ask questions or make comments pertinent to the story being read.

 3.PK.9 Listen to age-appropriate material that makes connections to self and the world

around them.

 4.PK.5a Recall information from an event, text, or picture related to self and the world

around them.

 7.PK.2 Listen and respond appropriately to stories and group discussions.

 7.PK.5 Engage in conversation and sometimes follow conversational rules.

 8.PK.2 Use and expand vocabulary to describe feelings, experiences, observations and

ideas.

 8.PK.4a Initiate conversation and respond to others.

 3.PK.1 Identify a range of feelings (e.g., sadness, anger, fear, and happiness).

 6.PK.1c Use verbal and non-verbal conversation skills.

2. Objectives (What will children expect to learn?) (5 points)

 Begin to demonstrate comprehension of the meaning of a story.

 Recreate stories or actual experiences in a variety of ways.

 Add personal information related to the story.

 Answer questions related to books.

 Begin to demonstrate an understanding of turn-taking in conversation. Participate as an

equal partner in conversations with others.

 Tell real stories.

 Share personal experiences and ideas in group discussions.

 Identify a variety of feelings (e.g., anger, sadness, fear, happiness).

 Use words and non-verbal skills in conversations.

3. Materials and Equipment needed: (5 points)

The book, The Good Egg by Jory John

Two Plastic eggs, one yellow egg labeled the good egg, one cracked, taped egg labeled

the bad egg.

4. Teaching (What will you do?) (5 points)

Before reading the story, The Good Egg by Jory John, we will briefly discuss what are

good decisions and good behaviors. We will also briefly discuss what are not-so-good

decisions and behaviors. We will read the story The Good Egg by Jory John. After, we will
 introduce the good egg (plastic egg) and the bad egg (plastic egg). We will sit in a circle

and pass around the good egg while everyone gets a turn to say “I’m a good egg

when…” We will discuss the importance of making good choices and having good

behaviors. We will discuss that sometimes we make not-so-good decisions and have

not-so-good behaviors. We will learn that just because we have difficult days, we are

not “bad”. We will learn that everyone has “off” days and that occasionally everyone is

considered a “bad-egg” and it is important to remember that no one is perfect. We will

discuss the importance of recognizing our mistakes. We will pass the bad egg around

and each of us will identify a time when we were a “bad egg” or made a “bad egg

decision”.

5. Closure: (2 points)

After we finish the activity, we will discuss how our behaviors both good and bad are

similar to the behaviors of the good egg and the bad eggs in the book.

6. List 3 additional books in this genre to extend the learning: (3 points)

 The Couch Potato by Jory John

 The Bad Seed by Jory John

 The Cool Bean by Jory John