As you know, Hank Finds an Egg is wordless. During this reading, you will focus on the details in the illustrations.There are no right or wrong answers to the questions that you pose to your listener in this reading. Since the pages are not numbered, page 1 is the first photograph.
Your child will be asked to infer what the characters might be thinking, feeling, or saying in the photographs. Your child will, also, be asked to predict what Hank might do next. If your child doesn’t have a response, mention that the information might be in the text during the Second Reading.
*Discuss the beautiful hand-crafted details in the photographs.
*Look at the cover. Hank is introduced. What kind of animal do you think Hank is? What kind of egg might be on the ground?
Page 1:
Discuss the setting of the story. (Setting is both the when and the where of the story.)
~What season might be shown on page 1? What is your evidence? (spring: some plants seem to be ready to bloom, eggs are laid by birds in the spring)
~ What is happening in the photograph?
~What might Hank be thinking as he looks at the egg?
Pages 2 – 3:
Talk about the order in which to view the photographs. (left to right)
~What is Hank doing?
~What might Hank be thinking?
Pages 4 – 7:
Look at this series of photographs.
You can repeat the following questions for each page:
~What is Hank doing?
~What might Hank be thinking?
~On page 7, predict what Hank is going to do with the piece of wood.
Pages 8 – 9:
~Look at the photographs in order. Talk about going from top to bottom.
~What is Hank doing? Was your prediction about the piece of wood correct?
~Has Hank gotten the egg back in the nest?
~Make another prediction about what might Hank try next.
Pages 10 – 11:
~What does Hank decide to do next to try to get the egg back into the nest?
~Do you think his new idea will work?
Pages 12 – 13:
~Does the ladder solve the problem?
~Help Hank think of another way to get the egg back into the nest.
Pages 14 – 15:
~On page 14, what is it that seems to have caught Hank’s attention? (the rising moon)
~What might Hank be thinking?
~Where do you think he might be going?
Pages 16 – 19:
Look at this series of photographs.
~Discuss what Hank is doing in each of the photographs.
~Why might Hank be sleeping with the egg?
Pages 20 – 21:
~On page 20, what time of the day do you think it is?
~Where do you think Hank might be going?
Pages 22 – 23:
Another character enters the story, a hummingbird.
~Why might the hummingbird be flying around the nest?
~What might the two characters be saying to each other?
Pages 24 – 25:
Look at the series of photographs.
~What is Hank doing in this series of photographs?
Pages 26 – 27:
~What has Hank done with the egg?
~What might Hank and the hummingbird be saying to each other?
Pages 28 – 31:
Look at the series of photographs.
~Whose idea do you think it is to wrap the egg in moss and have the hummingbird fly with it to the nest?
~On pages 30 and 31, what might Hank and the hummingbird be saying to each other?
Pages 32 – END:
Look at the series of photographs.
~What is happening?
~On page 35, which one of the hummingbirds is in the photograph with Hank? What might they be saying to each other?
~In the last photograph, how do you think Hank is feeling? Why might he be feeling this way?