The Emperor’s Egg written & illustrated by Rae Tan
Published by Lothian Children’s Books, Hachette Australia
Picture Book review & how to use the book by Joy Lawn (Joy in Books) at Paperbark Words blog
“ ‘All the creatures are out except mine.’
‘It’s all right, Ren,’ Papa says, ‘You’ve given Bao Bao all your love and care. That’s what matters.’ ”
(The Emperor’s Egg)
Illustration from The Emperor’s Egg by Rae Tan
The Emperor’s Egg is a 2026 CBCA shortlisted book in the Early Childhood category. Based on a traditional Chinese folk tale, Rae Tan aptly re-envisions it as a lively and thoughtful picture book for young readers.
The aging emperor sets a task for the children in his kingdom. They are each given an egg and what they bring back to him in thirty days time will determine his heir. The children ponder and play with their eggs.
‘There are creatures inside,’ everyone whispers. ‘The child with the finest creature will win!’
Ren and his younger siblings wonder what will hatch. Other children’s eggs hatch into fanciful, impressive creatures. Although Ren cares for his egg attentively, it takes longer to hatch than everyone else’s.
Like Rae Tan’s other work, the illustrations often feature rounded lines and shapes. The pictures are colourful, with a focus on gold. The amount of detail on the page (particularly through the number of characters and creatures) and the line work also shifts the mood between exuberance and contemplation.
The tale is very carefully worded so that the clever, wise twist is a surprise. The denouement will be a satisfying ‘ah ha’ moment for most readers. Virtues of care, patience, courage, honesty, integrity and quiet heroism are prized and shared through this tale.
Spread from The Emperor’s Egg by Rae Tan
Using the book with children
Kingdom Setting The story is set in “a small kingdom far away”. The open-ended description unleashes children to imagine what it looks like. What could the setting of the kingdom look like? Children could draw the kingdom using some of the colours that Rae Tan has used in her book. (Optional: pictures of Ancient China could also be viewed as scaffolding for ideas and content about a kingdom.)
PredictWhat Hatches After reading the first few pages, children guess what might hatch out of Ren’s egg (and also those of the other children).
Gold Children search through the whole book from the front to the back cover, and the pages in between, to find where the colour gold is used. What does it represent? (Gold is also used cleverly in Pancakes for Plum, another picture book by Rae Tan.)
Rounded Shapes Why might Rae Tan use rounded shapes in this (and her other) picture book/s?
Endpapers Compare the first and final endpapers. How are they different? Why?
Eggs & Re-Enactment Eggs are a key part of the story. Children describe the emperor’s egg. They can make eggs by decorating hard-boiled or foam eggs (or other egg-shaped craft models).
They can also make simple models, puppets or pictures of the creatures that hatch – or creatures from their own imaginations that could hatch.
The children choose characters from the story to role play (or have roles allocated to them). They could then dress up (optional) and re-enact the story while it is read aloud.
Moral or Lesson What is the wise lesson that children learn from this tale? Discuss how they might apply it in their own lives.
Other Books Read other books by Rae Tan, such as Pancakes for Plum and Lights Out, Little Dragon! – written by Debra Tidball (see links at the end of this post).
FolktalesThe Emperor’s Egg is a retelling of a Chinese folktale. Read or view others, such as a child-compatible version of The Monkey King.
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