Chickens Aren't the Only Ones »

March 2000

With a concise and lively rhyming text, celebrated author and artist Ruth Heller introduces readers to a remarkably diverse group of egg-laying animals and explains their unique behavior in Chickens Aren't the Only Ones. Rich, memorable spreads depict eggs of every shape and size in brilliant detail, along with the amazing animals that lay them. This original and thoughtful look at nature is sure to delight as naturally as it teaches. Ruth Heller's celebrated World of Nature series also includes Animals Born Alive and Well, The Reason for a Flower, and Plants That Never Ever Bloom.

Our chat with Ruth Heller is part of an ongoing series that highlights some of the books featured on the critically acclaimed, award-winning children's PBS program "Reading Rainbow," which Barnes & Noble.com and Barnes & Noble sponsor. Developed to encourage positive attitudes in children toward reading and learning, each "Reading Rainbow" episode is inspired by an outstanding children's book. Expanding on the featured book's theme, series host LeVar Burton takes children on "you are there" adventures while motivating them to make reading part of their everyday lives.

Children's Literature

It's not just chickens--almost all animals lay eggs, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects and other invertebrates. In this clever book, we learn that the octopus hangs its eggs in pearl-like strings attached to rocks, and that the spider wraps its eggs in silk. We learn that not all eggs are round--stingrays' eggs look like mermaid's purses. Active fathers, like the seahorse and the Siamese fighting fish, are included as well as two unusual egg-laying mammals, the spiny anteater and the duckbill platypus. Although the biological concepts and detailed drawings are advanced enough to teach even parents a thing or two, the rhymes and bright colors give this book definite kid appeal. Heller even manages to introduce words like "oviporous" and "mammalia" (which she rhymes with "Australia," of course) without seeming too pretentious or inaccessible. 1999 (orig.