First the Egg
First the Egg is a "New York Times" bestselling children's picture book written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, published by Roaring Book Press in 2007. It was a Caldecott Honor Book in 2008 and also appeared on the "New York Times" Best Illustrated Children's Books list and the American Library Association Notable Children's Books list. The book comprises a series of die-cut pages that convey various forms of transformation. Seeger uses word play and alters the composition of the illustrations between cut-outs to create unexpected relationships among basic concepts such as  time, opposites, and colors. In 2009, the company Weston Woods Studios, Inc. made a version of the book, narrated by Elle Fanning, with music by Jack Sundrud and Rusty Young Reception. "Publishers Weekly" described "First the Egg" as "another nimble page-turner...", and "Inis" magazine called it "whimsical and bold..."