The Golden Egg (Templar) Book

Imagine waking Easter morning to find a basket with jelly beans, chocolate bunnies, marshmallow chicks... and a pretty, sparkly lift-the-flap Easter book! The Golden Egg, while no literary gem, is sure to be appealing to young readers with an eye for all that glitters. Simple rhyming verse tracks Little Duck as she searches high and low for a very special golden Easter egg. Along the way, she elicits the help of a fluffy chick, darling lambs, an elegant swan, and a bevy of bunnies. "They stop beside a babbling brook,/ and Duck lets out a 'Quack!'/ Swan is swimming down the stream,/ and cradled on her back,/ there is an egg so dazzling,/ so bright it makes them blink./ But is it gold? 'Oh, no,'/ says Swan..." (lift the flap) "'My egg is rosy pink!'" Alas, although the eager crew finds dazzling purple, green, blue, silver, and pink decorated eggs, there's nary a golden egg to be found. But the Goose upon her nest reveals something even better--a chocolate egg!

The conclusion is a trifle bewildering (could the moral really be all that glitters is not gold, but sometimes is chocolate instead?), but this book is appealing and attractive with plenty of shiny allure and interactive fun. Children will love participating in the page-turning Easter egg hunt, peering behind potted plants and cattails to see if they can find the elusive golden egg. (Baby to preschool)