Guess What Is Growing Inside This Egg

by Mia Posada

Crack, crack...animal babies are hatched all over the place. Can you figure out who's who?

Watercolor and collage illustrations depict close-up scenes of an egg or eggs about to hatch. The text hints at what the eggs contain: Hidden in a rock cave/ Deep beneath the ocean waves/ Their mother wraps her long arms around/ To keep these eggs safe and sound. The observant young nature lover will find a visual clue of what animal the mother might be. The next spread provides the answer-in this case, it's an octopus. The second spread also provides fascinating facts about the species.

The book features a number of species ranging from spiders to penguins to octopuses, and the back matter provides more information about the actual size of various eggs and how they develop.

Genres: Picture Books, Nonfiction, Animals, Science, Nature, Storytime, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2007

About the author

Mia Posada grew up in Minneapolis, then studied art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After graduating, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where she lived until 2007 when she moved back to Minneapolis with her husband and children. Mia has written and illustrated five books: Dandelions: Stars in the Grass, Ladybugs: Red, Fiery and Bright, Robins: Songbirds of Spring, Guess What is Growing Inside This Egg, and Who Was Here?: Discovering Wild Animal Tracks. She also illustrated Dazzling Dragonflies by Linda Glaser.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picture-book naturalist Mia Posada explores the world of animal eggs in this engaging and interactive work for younger children. The book alternates between two-page spreads in which a particular kind of egg is described in rhyming text, with an accompanying question about what's inside, and two-page spreads on which the answer is given, along with more information about the animal in question. Animals profiled include penguins, alligators, ducks, sea turtles, spiders and octopodes. An afterword shows each of the eggs in real size, and provides a progression of a duckling growing inside his egg...

Having greatly enjoyed Posada's subsequent Who Was Here?: Discovering Wild Animal Tracks , with its interactive question and answer format, and alternation between simple rhyming descriptions and more detailed informational passages in prose, I was happy to discover that Guess What Is Growing Inside This Egg features the same structure. I think that this works very well, not just in imparting information, but in keeping young readers and listeners involved in the reading process. The accompanying collage style artwork here is likewise engaging, and adds to the reading pleasure. Recommended to young animal lovers and naturalists.

[Laurie Hnatiuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up particularly thinking of primary students who may hatch chicks in the spring and looking for an additional book to look at animals that lay eggs and life cycles. This book does a good job of this and know of some primary teachers that would use this book. The reader is given an image of an egg with a parent or in its habitat and asked to guess What is growing inside the egg. The following pages provide the answer with additional information about the egg, animal and place where the egg may be hatched. At the back of the book, the reader can see diagrams of actual eggs sizes of the six animals introduced and then the life cycle of a duckling. The types of animals introduces include birds, reptiles, an arachnid and a mollusk (octopus). A great supplementary addition to collections

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Nonfiction*
Awards: None
Audience: K-3rd
A. The topic of this book is Oviparous animals. (Animals that lay eggs.)
B. The topic is presented in a friendly way by having them make predictions and engaging pictures. The information is also written in kid-friendly language.
C. There are diagrams to compare the size of all the animals’ eggs as well as a diagram of the progression of a duck’s growth inside of an egg from day 1-25.
D. I used this book with my Kindergarteners to help them understand the word Oviparous during their study of life cycles. They LOVED it! They loved making predictions and were surprised by some of the animals that laid eggs.

[Emory Rhoten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells where different eggs are, has the reader guess what is in the egg, and then tells facts about the animal inside the egg. There were a variety of animals that the author explained like penguins, alligators, and sea turtles. I am definitely more of a fiction reader, but for a non fiction book, this was very enjoyable. I loved how the author engaged the reader and allowed them to guess before she revealed what was in the egg. This book would be great to read to students when learning about life cycles or science. This would also be a great recommendation for students who love learning about animals.

[Evan Teter]

This book shows the environment that eggs are laid and hatched in. Once it reveals what animal the egg belongs to, it briefly about what each animal does after they hatch and a little but about what their life will look like when they are older. This is a great informational text with cool illustrations, and there are also some points at the end where it shows how big the eggs are in a life size scale. I would recommend this book for second through fifth graders. It could also be a good read aloud book.

[Sharon]

Wonderbook/Findaway, 2019

No publisher or narrator given (narrated by the author?)

Straightforward narration with appropriately steady cadence and tone. No music or sound effects. This works as a read-along on several reading levels as the text gives information suited to both preschool and primary grades.

Only quibble is that some parts describing the eggs, what might be termed additional information, are not read aloud.

Learning Mode questions appear to be the same from book to book, regardless of suitability to text.

[Elizabeth Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

i guess if i had to pick a fave of the 2, and that is including the book cover, i would pick this one "Who Was Here?" because i enjoy the moose on the front. watching "Northern Exposure" lately with a moose in that show, so cute cool!! i read 2 of Mia Posada's read this time: "Who Was Here?" and "Guess What Is Growing Inside This Egg" both are so fun. great illustrations. very cool. i enjoy learning as well as reading ... put them together and that is even more FUN!! very cool.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would have been great when my guys were small, because it had an easy option and a more detailed one. I love when picture books (especially nonfiction ones do this)!be cause my kids were two years apart but we read picture books all together. And I like having the option of doing the riddle and guessing or spending more time talking about the animal.

For the record, I guessed them all correctly!

[Fourth Grade · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is very realistic, but it is very weird to me. I don't like this book at all. I would not recommend this book at all to kids. This book is a very unteachable, that's why this book is not interesting. The book Guess What Is Growing Inside This Egg , the paragraphs may be to long for kids for kids in 2nd and 3rd grade, it would be hard for kids to understand this book.

[Morgan Pyles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun book for children. The whole book is a guessing game that may keep students intrigued. It first gives clues as to where the eggs are laid and what the mother of the eggs looks like. Then the next page tells you the answer and give more facts about what happens after those particular eggs hatch. Its very informative and fun at the same time!

[Viviane Elbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This non-fiction book is engaging by making kids guess what is growing inside each egg. There's a rhyming description of where the egg is growing and the question: Can you guess what is growing inside this egg? There are side matter facts on the "answer" page, where we discover that it's an alligator or duckling or spiderling. There is also back matter with extra information about eggs.

[Kris Dersch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Between 3 and 4 stars.
I like the illustrations, I like the concept, I loved the informational blurbs. The rhymes were a bit uneven and please make sure the question always comes last as a read-aloud the inconsistency bugged me.

[sarah young · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute joy! Interactive, beautiful illustrations, and filled with facts. Young readers can use clues in the illustrations and text to decipher who’s in that egg! The page that follows will answer the question and give more information on the animal. Definitely will become a regular read.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun non fiction book, it was fun to guess what was inside the egg! I loved the pictures and the way the story was presented

[Karla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but some sections were too long. Illustrations just mediocre.

[Fairport Public Library]

March 2022, Lauren S., Fiction

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 5 year old daughter enjoyed guessing what was inside the eggs. She got most of them right because we've been talking about animal eggs a lot recently.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ali likes the duck egg timeline at the end and Lex likes the cute little baby animals!

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars for this book about several animals that hatch from eggs

[Stephanie Croaning · Rating 4 out of 5]

by Mia Posada
Millbrook Press, Minneapolis, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-8225-6192-7
Description: 29 p. : col. ill. ; 27 cm.
Dewey: 591.4
Subject: Narrative and informational nonfiction; eggs/baby animals; question and answer format
Interest Level: K-3; Reading Level: 4.0
Lexile measure: 890
4 out of 5 stars

Summary from jacket flap: “Look! Animal babies are hatching from their shells. Study the picture and read the clues to find out what animal it will be. Can you guess? The charming verse and enchanting watercolor collages portray the many ways animals care for their eggs and young. This book is filled with fascinating facts about animals, hatchlings, and their environment.”

Evaluation: This book is very similar in style and format to What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? The illustrations are done in a collage format with a close-up on the questioning page, and then a full-view of the animal that hatches from the eggs on the follow-up answer page.
Posada also employs the use of repetition by beginning each section with a four-line hint that rhymes, followed by the question, “Can you guess what is growing inside this/these egg(s)?” The answer is provided by the animal being named, accompanied by a short paragraph that provides basic information about the animal, such as where it lives, how it hatches, and what it does as a baby. Six different animals are featured.

Additional information is at the back of the book. There is a visual that shows the actual size of the eggs compared to each other, a look at the inside of a duck egg, with information about incubation times for each of the animals.

With slightly more text that What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?, this book would be suited for a slightly older audience, or you could select just a few sections to read. Young children would probably get a little restless if you read the entire book.

The rhyming sound, combined with the repeated question, exclamation of the animal name, and informational paragraph all combine to make for different reading sounds. The rhyming hints are sometimes a little awkward to read, so practice beforehand is essential.

The illustrations are visually appealing and little clues to the animal are just visible enough that children will enjoy guessing the animal. The different sounds of the text, combined with the question and answer format and some repeated phrases, make this a good read-aloud with the potential for a lot of interaction with the listeners.

Guess What is Growing Inside This Egg is just as suited for a read-aloud as What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? The audience for Guess should be older than for What, or only portions of the book should be read in one sitting.

[Ally Copper · Rating 4 out of 5]

When authors take time to do research and to present science facts in a way that makes learning fun, everyone wins. "Guess What Is Growing Inside This Egg" by Mia Posada finds that perfect balance between entertainment and education. A few facts are presented as clues as to what type of egg is being referenced, and then the book asks this question: "Can you guess what is growing inside this egg?" This gives young readers a chance to think about what they know, to investigate the clues that are provided, and then to interact with the book by guessing, either out loud or to themselves, what type of egg is being referenced. The next page reveals what particular animal is growing inside the egg and then gives a few more interesting facts on that species. To keep readers engaged, it's important that this additional information isn't too extensive. The author chose the most interesting and important facts about the particular species. It seems the author chose things that children could easily grasp (e.g., "The mother and father penguins take turns holding the little chick on their feet to keep it warm.") Then the book moves onto the next type of egg, starting the process all over again. Young readers could have fun with this book during a story time and could learn a lot from this book in a science class. The information presented is pretty basic, so you wouldn't use it much beyond third grade, but younger readers could really gain new insight about the various animals that lay eggs. The illustrations that appear to be cut paper collage and possibly paint also appear to be really well done. They provide a few details about the species being talked about, but they aren't overly exact and scientific. You wouldn't see these pictures in a science text, but they provide enough detail for this picture book to be educational. This book is a winner for making science fun.

[Dillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book went through several different animals and described the scientific facts about how they lay their eggs, and what happens between the newborn and the parents once the newborn has hatched. The book goes through describing the process of penguins, alligators, ducks, sea turtles, spiders, and octopuses. It is also really cool because in the back of the book they show the actual sizes of the eggs of those animals and highlight the process of development of a duckling inside its egg. The author and illustrator, Mia Posada, also makes the reading very fun and factual for the students. As the book is beginning to introduce an egg of another type of animal it always says, “Can you guess what is growing inside these eggs?” Then it gives a little hint of where the eggs are located and how they are protected, and then you have to turn the page and it shows a bunch of hatched eggs of that type of animal and says in big bold letters “Ducklings!”
As mentioned before this book is very informational and entertaining as well. It would belong in the non-fiction genre, but it would probably be one of the more fun books in that genre.
The illustrations are done by the author and are made up out of ripped up pieces of paper that are placed on a canvas which is also painted on. Mia Posada makes the illustrations very bright and colorful, and she makes sure they are the focus on every single page as they take up the entire space.

[Sunday · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would make a good read aloud for students in grades k-3. This is a non-narrative, informational text written in a conversational tone, as though the author is having a chat with the young student. ("You can actually see the baby octopuses inside their eggs!") Posada introduces a mysterious egg with an informative clue ("This round sac of silk thread is packed full of tiny eggs. Their mother spun it with her eight long legs.") and then asks "Can you guess what is growing inside these eggs?") The reader turns the page and Posada answers the question and goes on to describe how the eggs hatch and so forth. The illustrations support young students' understanding of the text.

Towards the end of the book, there is a two page spread with "actual size of eggs" worth peering at for a long moment and then contrasting aloud with students. There is also a timeline of a duckling's incubation - revealing how it grows over 26 days with developmentally appropirate features like labels.

Theme? Living things are similar and yet different from each other; the fragility of the beginning of life (there are several author notes about predators), the care that must be taken to bring new life into the world...

There is also a SPANISH edition of this text. I'm not an expert in translation, though, and can't judge the quality of this text - so just an FYI that it's available.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This adorable book by Mia Posada is both educational and fun to read. The way this book is written leaves the reader guessing what type of animal eggs are shown in each picture. The animals included in the book are baby penguins, baby alligators, ducklings, sea turtles, spiderlings, and baby octopuses. The book describes each egg type and then goes on to tell quite a bit about each of the baby animals as well.

I would definitely use this book in my classroom. For the younger grades (K-2), I feel that this book would make a great informational read aloud. In fact, it would be a really good book to use when teaching students to use picture clues to figure out what is happening/ what type of animal it is. This book could also be useful in the upper grades for students who are struggling readers. It could be an option for a research text during science or even just a book for them to enjoy during silent reading. The informational value of this book is ultimately what makes it appropriate for all elementary students.

[Christine Turner]

Crack, crack...animal babies are hatched all over the place. Can you figure out who's who? Watercolor and collage illustrations depict close-up scenes of an egg or eggs about to hatch. The text hints at what the eggs contain: "Hidden in a rock cave/ Deep beneath the ocean waves/ Their mother wraps her long arms around/ To keep these eggs safe and sound." The observant young nature lover will find a visual clue of what animal the mother might be. The next spread provides the answer-in this case, it's an octopus. The second spread also provides fascinating facts about the species. The book features a number of species ranging from spiders to penguins to octopuses, and the back matter provides more information about the actual size of various eggs and how they develop.



Subject:
Eggs -- Juvenile literature
Animals -- Infancy -- Juvenile literature

Notes: I do not like the font used in this book. Illustrations are nice.

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another cute animal book about babies. This focuses on fairly common animals that are hatched from eggs. It gives an overview on how they are hatched, where they are hatched, and what happens after they are hatched. I think that it gives a good little insight on egg layers, and that it would be a good book for students that are interested in birds, as they are the primary topic in this book. This book is another riddle book, so I think it would be fun and interactive to read to students, as long as they aren't too restless. The riddles were easy to figure out and were very informative as well~ =D

[Debi Cates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well done!

Each type of egg has 2 pair of pages dedicated to it. First are the hint pages, "Can you guess?" with rhyming hints and very clever images. Next are the pages of information and is done very well, giving an idea of the early life of the hatchling and on to interesting tidbits about its future as it grows.

At the end of the book are actual egg-size comparisons. Squee! More fun.

Can't wait to give this to the Littles. They are such hungry sponges and so will slurp this right up.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ages 5-8. This wouldn't be a book I would use in a story time for birth-5 year olds, but I could see caregivers and children reading this book together, even a page at a setting to learn more about animals. It's a great book for dialogic reading, talking, conversation, narrative skills, and predicting. Each page has an illustration, a short rhyme, and bold print stating, "Can you guess what is growing inside these eggs?" that can help children guess which animal the next page will feature.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love to use this book to engage children's visual skills. With each new egg introduced, and before I have read the clues, I have the children back up their thinking by telling the group not only what they think it is but why they think that. I take lots of predictions before we read the text, then turn the page to find out what the animal is. They are using visual thinking strategies and drawing on prior knowledge. Primary school children love this book.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must-have for my library. Students can guess what kind of animal will hatch out of each egg, and then turn the page to see if they guessed correctly and find out more information about the animal. The chart at the end that compares the sizes of all the eggs mentioned is a plus.
Highly recommended!