Eggs by Jerry Spinelli

I think the thing I like the most about Jerry Spinelli’s books is that his characters learn. His characters learn through the simple act of living, like so many of us do. In Eggs, Spinelli weaves together the lives of two children suffering from a sense of loss.

David’s mother died when she fell by walking on a wet floor and hitting her head. His father works 200 miles away and only comes to his mother’s house, where he and David now live, on the weekends. Primrose doesn’t know who or where her father is. She just has what she thinks is a picture of him and a mother who isn’t really a mother at all, except biologically.

Both David, nine, and Primrose, thirteen, live behind a shell of self-imposed seclusion, until they meet and form a friendship that teaches them both that it’s okay to let the rest of the world in. Spinelli’s characters show depth through actions instead of analysis, and I couldn’t help thinking of the similarities between Refrigerator John and Archie, the older, wiser man who is the common link between characters in his Stargirl.

Spinelli doesn’t need profanity or violence to get his point across, and the ending is hopeful without being over the top. This isn’t a novel packed with action and intrigue, but it’s well worth the time it takes to read, and is sure to be a hit with Spinelli fans everywhere.

4.5/5 STARS

Release date: June 2007