MaiStoryBook Library

MaiStoryBook: The Great Eggscape + A Dozen Ways to Frolic With Friends Caftivity

by MaiStoryBook

Introducing a springtime read aloud encouraging us to try new adventures and break out of our shell~ featured in the MaiStoryBook Library Collection:

“The Great Eggscape” by Jory John and Pete Oswald

*~Click here to purchase your own copy of *The Great Eggscape” to start on your own reading adventure! (This is an affiliate link~ 5% of your purchase will go to MaiStoryBook to help create Reading Resources for your littles)~*

Book Synopsis and Review

The Good Egg and his buddies are back in this newest addition to Jory John and Pete Oswald’s Best-Selling Bad Seed/Good Egg/Cool Bean series. In this companion book to “The Good Egg,” Good Egg and his pals escape from their cartons for a morning of fun in their organic farmer’s market store. Almost everybody joins in on the adventure~ except for Shel. Shel prefers having some alone time- after all, living in a carton with a dozen eggs can get kinda cramped. Thus, while everyone else is diving into a pool of tie-dye egg-dye, Shel settles in to read a good book, take a spa break, and shuts his eyes for a nap. However, unbeknown to Shel, the other eggs have started an epic game of hide-and-seek, and Shel has been deemed “It.” Concerned for his *very late* friends, who usually return by noon for lunch, Shel reluctantly leads the carton to find his friends. But when one egg turns up missing, can Shel and his friends work together to find their friend?

Jory John and Pete Oswald have banded together to again create a festive springtime, Easter themed, reading adventure. This epic game of hide-and-seek alludes to a classic Easter egg hunt, and the expressive illustrations, complete with punny details, capture the attention of both young and old readers (note: the cover illustration is by Pete Oswald, and the interior illustrations were designed by Pete Oswald, but were created by another illustrator Saba Joshaghani) The narrative contains the usual fun dialogue~ and the overall message to break out of your shell, and try something new, is charmingly delivered without a hint of didactic undertones. While spending time on your own for self-care is important, it’s also important to value time spent with your friends, trying new things, and going on new adventures together. Read along for giggles and to reunite with old friends from the “Good Egg.” It’s always fun to see familiar characters! Plus, the book comes with two sticker sheets to decorate your own egg buddies.

Vocabulary

  • frolic (p. 4) play around cheerfully and happily
  • pace (p. 10) walk back and forth
  • investigate (p. 20) try to figure something out
  • scour (p. 20) search for something
  • unite (p. 25) come together

Themes/ Main Ideas

  • Take a chance to break out of your shell: Try something new, play a new game, go on a new adventure. You might discover something you love, or have the best time!
  • Balance self-care and time with friends: It’s important to take care of yourself, but balance time lone with time spent frolicking with good friends.

YouTube Video: Guided Shared-Reading Read Aloud Example

Example of a shared-reading, interactive Read Aloud of “The Great Eggscape” – how to subtly introduce the vocabulary list words within the text, ask guided questions, and spark conversation!

*~Check it Out~*

Subscribe: MaiStoryBook Youtube Channel for additional read aloud videos!

*A Dozen Ways to Frolic with Friends* Craftivity

Easter~ the event of scrambling around the yard, peering through bushes, overturning stones, and scaling trees to find those elusive eggs. Easter eggs~ rainbow orbs of plastic encasing a miniature treasure of foil-wrapped chocolates or a couple clanging coins for the piggy bank. There is a delight in searching the backyard, knowing that this time, for sure, there will be hidden treasure to find (not just a pretend treasure hunt). At my house, there were always multiple levels of hidden-egg-difficulty. The eggs scattered *in plain sight* on the lawn were for the youngest, the ones *acutally* hidden, were for the older kids. We all knew that the hardest eggs to find had the best contents within~ not just coins, but maybe even a dollar bill or two? It was a jackpot for us back then! When there was an egg to difficult to find, the best way to seek it out was to team up. We would split up sections of the yard, responsible for scouring every inch of our area. It was a foolproof plan. It may have started as slightly competitive in the beginning~ who can find the most eggs?~ but in the end, we always eventually ended up splitting our Easter goodies and trading amongst ourselves. After all, it was teamwork that helped us find all the eggs. Looking back on childhood memories such as these highlights the joy I had with my siblings; I appreciate the time we had frolicking together. This week’s craft, inspired by the story, focuses on *a dozen* different ways your littles can frolic with friends. While “frolicking” may look different now during a quarantine, help your littles think of a dozen ideas they could play with a friend~ after all, like Shel discovered, the best part of his egg-venture was spending the time with his friends!

Materials

Directions

  • Choose a “Rainbow” template. There are colored and black and white versions- with white-block or black text.
  • If you chose the black and white version, color it in.
  • Write your name on the blank line. Cut out the rainbow template. 
  • Next, choose your dozen egg templates. There are colored or black and white versions.
  • There are also different fill in template versions for both color or B&W: a fill-in version with prompts, aversion with a blank box for your own ideas, or versions with no box or prompts. 
  • Cut out the eggs *Keep the Tabs ON**
  • Fill in the eggs with your ideas for frolicking with friends. Color in if you chose B&W. 
  • To put the craft together: Divide the eggs into 2 columns, 1-6 for one column, 7-12 for the second column.
  • Attach the eggs in a column by attaching the tabs to the backs of the bottom of the egg that goes above it. 
  • Then use the tabs at the top of egg 1 and 7 to attach the two columns of eggs to the back of the bottom of the clouds.
  • The final craft should be a rainbow with 2 columns of eggs hanging down from the two ends of the rainbow.

Enjoy Your *A Dozen Ways to Frolic with Friends* Craftivity

  • Choose an activity from your craft and play it with a sibling, friend, or other family member
  • Hang up your Craftivity and use it to remind you of all the different ways you can frolic with friends, and of the new activities you can try
  • Share your craftivity with a family member or friend and have them choose an activity you can do together.
  • Read the story again with your craftivity as a reading buddy. Count the eggs on your own craft as Shel finds them, until you reach a dozen!

*~Overall, I hope you all are staying safe, staying healthy, and supporting each other through these times! Tag me on Instagram @MaiStoryBookLibrary, Twitter @MaiStoryBook  – post on FaceBook – or contact me via email to share your photos of your own *A Dozen Ways to Frolic with Friends* Crafts, and your own reading adventures! I’d love to hear from you!~*

*~Until next time, Happy Reading~*