Sadly, The Good Egg by Jory John and illustrations by Pete Oswald, is a preachy story about being the “good egg” but then learning to “take care of yourself” and it is okay to “not be perfect.” It is a very modern story that you are going to love or hate. It is in the same vein as the authors other book, The Bad Seed.
There is not a lot to say about this book, except the negatives. I am not a fan of the art but appreciate the work that goes into it. And, to be honest, the art can be fun sometimes. There is good color, perfect details and it moves the text along with being complimentary. The text itself is average. We have seen the story before. The pun of the “good vs. bad egg” might be lost on kids, but this will be the draw for adults. (The same goes for the Bad Seed motif.)
Perhaps one of my biggest pet-peeves about the book is the one part I took way to literal. The reason the Egg learns that he needs to leave his carton/leave home is that he starts to literally crack up. He has giant spider cracks running down his noggin’. (Spoiler) You know that he will be okay, but honestly, I was thinking about the fact that kids might think you can “heal” a cracked egg. I admit, I read WAY too much into it, but cannot help being me!
Both The Good Egg and The Bad Seed are meant for older children and adult readers. The nice thing obout Jon is that you can read other books by him and see if you like them instead. Such a Giraffe Problems.