The Donkey Egg by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel

  The Donkey Egg by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019. Children's picture book.

Those of us familiar with Bear and Hare in the Stevens/Crummel collaboration Tops and  Bottoms, another picture book, will laugh out loud at the return of these characters. New fans will be charmed, too.

Add Fox to this colorful tale, and the trickster story begins as Fox cleverly sells an obvious watermelon to Bear. Fox convinces Bear that, with patience, he can hatch a donkey from the "egg". Poor Bear does everything he can. He keeps the egg warm. He keeps the egg safe. He keeps the egg happy. Hare lends support every time he makes a running loop as he trains for another race. Finally, when the "egg" falls and breaks, Bear and Hare plant the seeds, grow real watermelons, and buy a donkey with their proceeds! What a turn of events for confused Fox!

Little boxes show exactly how long minutes, hours, days, and weeks can be. Math teachers will want to key in on the possibilities to slip math information painlessly into lessons! The large and colorful illustrations invite exploration. Humorous rhyming words help pass the waiting time and roll off the reader's tongue. Another winner from this dynamic sister duo!