Hook by Ed Young, a Caldecott Medal winner, is a children’s nonfiction storybook about an abandoned egg getting adopted, via human hands, by an ordinary, nurturing hen. Turns out, the hatchling is an eaglet no less and Hook is his name because of his hook-like beak!
I tell you, my blog reader, the story in words, but this book tells its story through blended charcoal drawings that are just phenomenally mesmerizing. Each page consists of a charcoal drawing that lures you into the narrative of this young eagle that has to find its own way in the world, with the help, again, of a young boy and a homely hen. The writing is sparse, another feature that draws your eye to the picture. Now, the story itself, I found, was winsome in its ability to point to the kindness of strangers and the importance of perseverance (“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!”).
Another winning quality to this book is its length. With few words, it flies by and is able to hold the short attention span of very young readers, ages two and half and up! It’s a unique find, our wonderful Yvonne Rogers saw the beauty of, and it is literature of the natural world at its zenith. Like the eagle it fondly speaks of, this book soars and it soars with bold elegance.
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