[BOOK REVIEW] Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco

Title:  Rechenka's Eggs

Author:  Patricia Polacco


Genre: Easter / Family / Animal / Folktale



Year Published: 1988



Year Read: 2010

Publisher: Puffin

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (One Violent Image)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

 

When I was reading Patricia Polacco’s books, I was interested in knowing more about how Patricia Polacco studied Russian and Greek iconographic history in the Royal Melbourne Institute, which along with her interest in painting Ukrainian eggs, inspired her to create this story! “Rechenka’s Eggs” is a Russian tale by Patricia Polacco about how a talented old lady named Babushka finds an injured goose one night and she soon discovers that the goose now named Rechenka, lays eggs that are not your ordinary eggs! “Rechenka’s Eggs” is a truly heartwarming story about true friendship that every child will easily enjoy!

Wow! This book was simple amazing! Patricia Polacco has done an excellent job at both writing and illustrating this wonderful book about true friendship! Patricia Polacco’s illustrations are truly beautiful and much different from her other books as the humans in this book has pale white faces with realistic facial designs while their clothing and all the animals are done in colors, which truly made the illustrations much more effective to look at. The illustrations that I truly loved were of Babushka’s eggs as they were truly colorful and creative and I also loved Babushka’s facial expressions as they show the true wisdom in Babushka. Patricia Polacco’s writing is truly heartwarming and I loved the friendship that developed between Babushka and Rechenka as they are connected towards each other through Rechenka’s eggs and the eggs made the twosome much closer towards each other in relationship. I also loved the fact that Patricia Polacco based Babushka’s eggs on her research dealing with Ukrainian eggs and I also loved how Patricia Polacco reinvented ancient Moscow and its festivals as these events and the landscapes made the story much more memorable.

Parents should know that there is a brief image of blood in this book as Rechenka briefly has drops of blood on her wing although this image is not really too graphic and it is just a small blot of blood. However, parents should try to reassure their children about the idea of Rechenka being shot.

Overall, “Rechenka’s Eggs” is a truly beautiful book for children who love reading about ancient Russia and who enjoy reading about Easter. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up due to the brief image of blood.