The Talking Eggs

The Talking Eggs

By: Robert D. Souci

Grade 3

MULTICULTURAL

In this book there were two girls who lived with their widowed mother. The daughters were Rose and Blanche. Rose was mean and was not very bright and Blanche was sweet and kind and very intelligent. The mother really liked Rose the best because they were both very similar. Blanche was always forced to do all of the chores while her mama and sister sat around doing nothing. Blanche was sent out one day to get water for her mother and sister and ran into an old woman who needed drink and she gave her the drink and the woman was very thankful and told her that God would bless her one day. Once she got back her mama and sister were very upset that she took so long and said that the water was too hot and they dumped the water out and hit Blanche. She ran away from home because she was afraid and then ran into the old woman once again. The old woman told her to come with her to get supper and a clean bed. Well they went into her shack and the woman handed Blanche a beef bone and told her to put it in the pot and she did as she was instructed and then looked and saw the the pot was filled with thick stew, bubbling away! Next the woman gave Blanche only one grain of sand and told her to grind it up and put it in the stone mortar and when she did that the mortar began overflowing with rice. After all of this happened they went out to the back porch and dozens of rabbits came out of the bushes dressed up in coats and dresses. They were dancing and playing the banjo. Blanche loved this and didn't want to leave! She was then told she was to go home and the woman told her to go the chicken house and was instructed to only take the eggs that said take me. She then threw the eggs behind her as the woman had instructed her on the way home. Things came out of them like diamonds and rubies. Others things also popped out of the eggs. Her mother became greedy and decided she wanted all of the things Blanche had and then would kick Blanche out. Rose was sent out to visit the woman but the visit didn't go like Blanche's. She made fun of everything that she saw and received nothing. She didn't listen and took all of the pretty eggs instead of the ones that said take me. When she threw them over her shoulder all of these bad animals came out and started to chase her. She ran to her mother's cabin and her mother tried to save her but ended up getting chased also. When they finally got home Blanche had left to the city and lived a great life and remained very kind. For the rest of Rose's life and her mother's life they searched for the old woman and the talking eggs but never found them. I loved this story. It was so great and definitely has a theme to the book. This would be a great book to use to teach lesson, theme, or message. They cover this specifically in the fifth grade and that is included in their standard course of study.