WHICH CAME FIRST? The chicken or the egg? Simple die-cuts magically present transformation-- from seed to flower, tadpole to frog, caterpillar to butterfly.

The acclaimed author of Black? White! Day? Night! and Lemons Are Not Red gives an entirely fresh and memorable presentation to the concepts of transformation and creatiity. Seed becomes flower, paint becomes picture, word becomes story--and the commonplace becomes extraordinary as children look through and turn the pages of this novel and winning book.
榮獲美國凱迪克銀獎，是一本關于轉變的圖畫書。從蛋變成雞、蝌蚪變成青蛙、種子變成花朵、毛毛蟲變成蝴蝶；它也是關于創造的圖畫書…顏料可以繪制圖畫，文字可以創造故事，而平凡也可以創造奇跡。 適合2-4歲閱讀。

從蛋變成雞、蝌蚪變成青蛙、種子變成花朵、毛毛蟲變成蝴蝶……。這是一本關于轉變的圖畫書。但它不僅僅是一個故事，還蘊含了對“生命起源和變化”的審美感知。
兒童美育中最重要的是對早期審美感知力的發掘與培養，其中對美的視覺能力是比“看”更高層次的“有意識地看”。
In another nimble page-turner, Seeger (Black? White! Day? Night!) toys with die-cuts and strategically paired words. She introduces a chicken-or-egg dilemma on her book’s cover, picturing a plump white egg in a golden-brown nest. Remove the die-cut dust jacket, and a hen appears on the glossy inner cover. The eggshell, thickly brushed in bluish-white and cream, also serves as the chicken’s feathers. This “first/then” pattern is repeated (“First the egg/ then the chicken./ First the tadpole/ then the frog”), with a die-cut on every other page. By flipping a page, readers see the cutout in two contexts. For instance, when an ovoid shape is superimposed on a white ground, it’s an egg; on a yolk-yellow ground, it’s the body of a baby chick. Seeger lines up the recto and verso of every sheet, maintaining a casual mood with generous swabs of grassy greens, sky blues and oxide yellows on canvas. Given the exuberant imagery, the occasional cutout (like the fingernail-size seed of a blowsy peony-pink flower) looks none too impressive. But if minuscule die-cuts seem barely worth the trouble, they do imply the potential in humble sources. Seeger’s clever conclusion brings all the elements together in an outdoor scene that returns readers to the opening: “First the paint/ then the picture… / First the chicken/ then the egg!”
在有趣的洞洞中孩子會發現圖像構成和變化的“秘密”、事物之間的奇妙聯系。你看，同一個洞洞既是“雞蛋”又可以是“小雞”的身子；既是“毛毛蟲”又可以是“蝴蝶”的一部分……。在這些“部分”與“整體”的變化中，孩子感知了生命的成長和變化，理解了由“洞洞”構成的更豐富的意義，這就是“有意識地看”的能力。