10x04 - Rechenka's Eggs

[bunniefuu]

♪ Reading rainbow ♪

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♪ Take a look ♪

♪ It's in a book ♪

♪ A reading rainbow ♪

♪ I can go anywhere ♪

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♪ And ways to grow ♪

♪ A reading rainbow ♪

♪ I can be anything ♪

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♪ A reading rainbow ♪

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Hi.

Behold...

The egg--

An everyday object
you see a lot,

But have you ever really
looked at it?

It's quite amazing.

The shell is perfect
and smooth.

It really doesn't have
a top or bottom,

A beginning or an end.

The egg's shape is oval,

Just right for cradling
in your palm.

The shell is hard
and feels robust,

But you sense it's vulnerable
and can break.

An egg's color is also
something to marvel at.

The brown ones are like
whipped butterscotch,

And the white ones
are creamy and pearly.

I've got big plans
for this egg,

And I'm not having it
for breakfast.

There's something
you can do with eggs

Other than eat them.

You can decorate them.

This is my arts and crafts kit.

I've got a lot
of odds and ends--

Some yarn, old ribbon,
my glue, scissors,

P
jar of thingumajigs...

There.

Ha ha ha!

I think I'll call him
egg mcmahon.

Huh?

You know, there are
lots of artists besides me

Who have found the egg
irresistible.

They've turned eggs
into true works of art.

Look at this.

This egg has been marbleized,

Painted so rivers of color

Cascade down the sides.

It might look like

A zebra laid this egg,

But it's glass

Painted with zebra stripes.

Look at the ribbons of color

Trapped inside
this venetian glass egg.

This is pink marble.

Someone cut and polished it
into an egg shape.

Here's a wooden nesting egg

With an old-style
world map on it.

Inside the egg
is another map egg...

And another...

And another...

And still...

Another!

This egg hatches
out of itself.

This one is a beauty.

Leaves were imprinted

Right onto the egg.

Something about an egg

Makes people
want to decorate it.

All over the world,
in almost every culture,

There's a tradition
for embellishing the egg.

A beautiful one
comes from the ukraine,

Where eggs are
lovingly decorated

In a style that's been
handed down for centuries.

Here's a story
about some ukrainian eggs

That were truly extraordinary.

It's called...

Babushka lived alone
in a dacha,

The little house
in the country,

But she was known
far and wide

For the fine eggs
she lovingly painted.

Her eggs were so beautiful
that she always won first prize

At the easter festival
in moscow.

Each day, babushka would paint
the shell of an egg

In wonderful designs

Using the shapes of stars
and flowers,

Triangles and circles.

One day,
after a snowstorm,

Babushka went outside
to feed the wild caribou

That came around the dacha.

Just then,
a flock of noisy geese

Honked loudly overhead...

[g*nsh*t]

And one of them faltered
and fell from the sky.

"A hunter did this!"

She took the wounded goose
back to her house

And put it
in her best basket,

Lined with the warmest quilt
from her bed.

"I shall name you
a good name," she said,

And she patted
the goose's head.

"How do you like
rechenka?

"Yes? Ha ha!

"Then rechenka
it shall be.

Ha ha!"

With babushka's care,
rechenka grew stronger.

To repay babushka's kindness,

Rechenka laid an egg
for breakfast

Every morning.

One day, she jumped on top
of babushka's worktable,

Knocking over
the painted eggs.

"Nyet! Nyet!"
Babushka screamed. "No!"

The eggs crashed
onto the floor

And shattered
into millions of pieces.

Huh!

Babushka and rechenka
were both very sad.

Next morning,
babushka got up

And trundled over
to rechenka's basket

To get her morning egg.

She picked out the most
brilliantly colored egg

That she had ever seen!

Ha ha!

"A miracle,"
babushka whispered.

"A miracle!"

She made small holes

At both ends of the egg

And blew out the yolk
and the white

To cook for breakfast.

Then she held the egg up
to the morning light

And marveled at its beauty.

Soon babushka had enough eggs

To take to the festival
in moscow.

"Spring is here,
my little friend.

Soon you will fly to the north
with your flock."

♪ Dah dah ♪♪

Babushka chanted.

"My little friend,
I shall surely miss you,

"But you are a wild thing.

"It would not be right

To ask you to stay
with me forever."

When babushka left
her little house,

She took one last look
at rechenka

Sitting on the doorstep.

[Bells ringing]

The festival was
bright and exciting.

Babushka showed her friends
the eggs.

"Ahh! Her eggs are
the most beautiful

In all russia,"

They thought.

"Look," the elders said.

"They almost glow,

As if the paint is part
of the shell!"

The judges picked
babushka's eggs

As the most beautiful.

"Oh!" Babushka
was so happy.

She beamed as she looked
at the first prize,

A feather-bed quilt.

As babushka made her way
homeward,

A honking flock of geese
flew overhead.

Babushka gave them
a long, lingering look.

She wondered if rechenka
was one of them.

When babushka arrived
at home that evening,

Rechenka was gone.

Alone, she put the new quilt
on the little bed,

And she drifted off
to sleep.

Babushka was awakened
by an ever-so-small sound.

[Tapping]

It was coming
from rechenka's basket.

Babushka hobbled closer

And saw a glorious egg,

But this one was different
from all the others!

It quivered!
It moved!

It made
tiny muffled sounds!

"Huh! Hmm! Huh!"

The egg jumped.

It bumped, rolled, and pitched
in the basket.

[Tapping]

Then there was a cr*ck,

And babushka could see
this very special gift

That rechenka
had left for her.

"Ahh!

It's all a miracle!"

And this little goose

Remained with babushka...

Always.

What a wonderful gift
rechenka gave to babushka,

And what a wonderful gift

The author of this book
gave us.

Whenever someone writes a book
that touches your heart,

The story stays with you
forever.

It takes a special person
to create such a story,

A person like patricia polacco,
the author of this book.

Drawing, all of my life,

Has been incredibly
important to me.

I'm learning disabled.

Drawing was something
I did well as a child.

I didn't read well
or do math well at first.

When I drew, I felt there was
something I could do

That was right.

When I was little,

I was lucky enough to live
in the same place

With my grandparents.

My grandmother was ukrainian.

My grandfather was
from the republic of georgia,

Soviet georgia.

People from that area
are incredible storytellers,

So our evenings were
literally spent listening

To my babushka--
my grandmother--

And my dyaduska--
my grandfather--

Tell stories
around the fireplace.

They used to call this
"fire talking."

They'd begin by saying,
"remember, words have power.

Words can make pictures
in your head."

I got the idea
for rechenka's eggs

Because every morning,
I go to the lake

And feed the geese.

They're canada geese--

Particularly beautiful,
wonderful geese.

I looked at them
and thought,

"I would love to write
about you.

You're so beautiful."

What could I write about them?

Well, they lay eggs.

I thought,
"I'll do a story about eggs!"

I thought of my grandmother,
everything about her.

I thought she would be

The perfect babushka
for the story.

My grandmother called me
into the kitchen one day.

She says, "I'll show you
how to make eggs

In the ukrainian fashion."

She heated this instrument,
the kitska.

A kitska is a tiny
copper funnel.

You put wax
in the hole at the end.

Hot wax comes out
of this tiny point,

Giving you
a fine drawing line.

Many people think
these eggs are painted.

They're not.

They're done by applying
wax to the shell

And dyeing them.

What happens is,

The dye won't go
where the wax goes.

All right.

Let's take it
out of the dye.

I think this egg
is yellow enough.

Wherever I draw
with the kitska

Will remain yellow
underneath.

My grandmother
would say to me,

"Don't go over that line.

"Don't be in a hurry.

This is something you have to do
very slowly."

There we go.

O.k., Here it comes.

Now, wherever I put marks

Will remain orange.

There she goes.

When I'm decorating
these eggs,

I'm always struck
by how it feels to touch them,

How it feels to draw the kitska
along the shell.

You may hear it.

It's a scratching.

Here it comes
out of the black.

There.

This is the best part.

It's like a mystery

Underneath the smoke
and fire and the wax.

As the wax melts away,

All of the beautiful
colors appear.

I'm just going to put
a bit a shellac

On the egg
so it will glisten.

Isn't it beautiful?

The tradition
that my grandmother taught me.

A pisanka.

It's believed that
as long as a pisanka

Is being painted
somewhere in the world,

The world will never end.

Not only is an egg the perfect
shape for decorating,

It's also a strong shape.

It can take a lot more
pressure than you think.

Here's an experiment that shows
how strong eggs can be.

You're really going to
be amazed at this.

You should try this
someplace easy to clean.

It could get messy.

The most important
thing to remember

Is that you must distribute
your weight evenly.

Otherwise, this won't work.

O.k.?

Here we go.

[Drum roll]

Ha ha ha!

Can you imagine how strong

These eggs must be

To hold me up?
Incredible.

Outdoors in nature,
eggs must be strong

In order to survive.

Unlike these eggs
we buy to eat,

Eggs in the natural world
have been fertilized

And have babies inside.

Strong eggshells protect
these animals

Up till the day they hatch.

The strength of the shell
lets mothers,

Or fathers, like this guy,

Sit down on top
without harming the eggs.

[Cracking]

When it's time to hatch,

The shell is built

So a baby's beak
can pierce right through.

Then little animals,
like these ducks,

Push and pull
themselves out.

[Trumpeting]

Penguins lay enormous eggs

Which they catch
on their feet

And hold there,

Keeping the eggs
nice and warm.

Now, these eggs
may be see-through,

But they're sturdy enough
for baby horseshoe crabs

To develop inside.

Snake babies are born
from eggs, too.

Crocodiles waste no time

Wrestling out
of their shells.

And after being
cooped up so long,

They head right
for the water to swim.

If you're still
wondering if eggs

Are all they're
cracked up to be,

These books are
eggs-actly what you need,

But don't take
my word for it.

Hi. I'm shaneeka.

Here's a book filled
with dancing rabbits,

Eggs that can talk,

And colorful
crazy chickens.

It's called
the talking eggs.

This is a story
about a girl named blanche.

Blanche is a kind
and generous girl,

But her mom and sister
are mean.

They make blanche
do all the work in the house.

I can't tell you
the whole story,

But a mysterious lady
lives in the woods.

That's where
the magic begins.

The talking eggs
is a folk tale.

It teaches,
"be nice to people,

"And good things
may be yours.

Be nasty, and you
better watch out."

Hi. I'm daniel,

And I'm a busy guy.

I have piano lessons
on monday

And basketball on friday,

But I save time
for arts and crafts.

I learned things
in this book

Called I made it myself.

There is a lot to make.

Each activity has pictures
and step-by-step instructions.

You might try this--
sandals for sunny days.

Can you believe they're made
out of newspaper?

You can even
make things with eggs.

Check these out.

This maze
is my favorite.

If you like crafts,
I really recommend this book,

But once you start,
you won't stop.

I made this,

And this,

And this.

Hi. I read a story
about a tight relationship

Between a man
and his goose.

The name of the story
is stefan & olga.

Stefan, the man,
and olga, the goose,

Live in a farmhouse.

Stefan and olga
like to do everything together.

They harvest vegetables,

They look at the sunset,

And they eat
breakfast together.

One winter,
stefan has a problem.

He doesn't have enough
money for food.

He's really sad because
he has to sell olga.

The story tells

How stefan and olga
try to get back together.

My name is josh.

Sometimes
you want to read a book
that makes you feel good.

I suggest stefan & olga
to anyone who has a soft spot.

It is remarkably simple,

And yet,

Simply remarkable.

The egg is one
of nature's wonders.

It's strong enough
to hold the seed of life,

And yet delicate enough
on the inside

For that brand-new life
to break out,

But that's not all.

The perfect beauty
of the egg's shape

Inspires us to create
magnificent treasures.

So, break out of your shell,
and go decorate an egg.

I'll see you next time.

♪ ...take a look ♪

♪ It's in a book ♪

♪ A reading rainbow ♪

♪ I can go anywhere ♪

♪ Friends to know
and ways to grow ♪

♪ A reading rainbow ♪

♪ A reading rainbow ♪

♪ A reading rainbow ♪

♪ A reading rainbow ♪

♪ A reading rainbow ♪♪

Today's reading rainbow books
are rechenka's eggs,

By patricia polacco,

Published by philomel books,

A division of
the putnam & grosset book group.

The talking eggs,
by robert d. San souci.

Pictures by jerry pinkney,

Published by dial books
for young readers,

A division
of penguin books usa inc.

I made it myself,
by sabine lohf.

Published by childrens press.

Stefan & olga,
by betsy day.

Published by dial books
for young readers,

A division
of penguin books usa inc.

Funding for
reading rainbow