Averbeck's book leads readers to expect predictable outcomes, only to turn those expectations on their head each time. An egg will hatch a baby bird, except ifsaid egg contains not a bird but a baby snake. The picture shows a beautiful blue egg with a perky forked-tongue critter poking out, but as the next pages reveal, it's not a baby snake, it's a baby lizard. Clever children will quickly pick up the progression and enjoy the surprise of each page turn and the new information that neatly upends their suppositions. Averbeck's oil pastel and digitally created illustrations use just a few colors on each page, directing the eye with thick, grainy black lines. He keeps the pictures simple, focused, and funny, and the sequence of surprises continues all the way to the satisfyingly circular ending. Teachers often look for books that use inference, but here's one that shows the downside of inferring too quickly, otherwise known as jumping to conclusions. SUSAN DOVE LEMPKE (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

PreS-Gr 1-With winsomely simple text and illustrations, this picture book is less a story than a convergence of fanciful possibilities. It begins with a large blue egg that's just beginning to crack: "An egg is not a baby bird." On the next page, the crack widens and an amorphous red face peeks out: "...but it will become one, except if...." When the small head becomes fully visible and reptilian, readers are led to believe, "it becomes a baby snake." But every time they think they know where they stand, another "except if" giddily overthrows their expectations. Reminiscent of favorites like Mike Lester's A Is for Salad (Putnam, 2000) and George Shannon's Tomorrow's Alphabet (Greenwillow, 1996), Except If is an entertaining, intriguing mental adventure.-Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Averbeck plays contrarian in this fun exercise in defying narrative assumption. An egg is not a baby bird, / but it will become one / except if and here we see that the tiny red face emerging from the cracked egg is not, in fact, a bird it becomes a baby snake. Page by page, the primary-colored pastels-and-watercolor illustrations tell a tale that looks to be headed one way until the page turn reveals another. It's not actually a snake; it's a lizard. (And the lizard looks as surprised as the reader.) The lizard's fly-eating life ends when it grows into a dinosaur, and that dinosaur's life ends, literally, when it turns into a fossil. It's a surprising turn of events our cute little protagonist is dead? but Averbeck continues his run-on sentence undaunted, showing us how the fossil's jaw creates a bare cliff that harbors a nest, which hatches an egg that will not become a baby bird . . . except if it does. It's a concept that starts cleverly and then, almost sneakily, warms the heart.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist

In this deceptively simple yet delightful tale, an egg is an egg. And that egg will become a baby bird ...except ifit becomes a baby snake instead. And that baby snake will slither on the ground ...except ifit is actually a baby lizard. Harkening back to Remy Charlip's classicFortunately(1964) and, more recently, to Laura Vaccaro Seeger'sFirst the Egg(2007), Averbeck proves that he, too, grasps the incredible power of the page turn. Every time readers think the situation is set, two singular wordsexcept ifchange everything. Those two words are boldly placed on the center of each right-hand page, inviting narrators to stretch out the suspense. The existential question posed holds huge potential for organized classroom exercise and solo flights of fancy alike. With heavy, smudgy lines, flat, muted tones and adorable creatures, Averbeck (In a Blue Room,2008, illustrated by Tricia Tusa) makes his illustrative debut. All the while, he demonstrates that things are often what they seem ...except if, of course,they are not.(Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Averbeck (In a Blue Room) explores the idea of expectations in this short, sweet, philosophical speculation. "An egg is not a baby bird," he explains, with a picture of a blue egg with a crack in it. "[B]ut it will become one" (the egg breaks open to reveal a small red head), "except if it becomes a baby snake," reads the text as the red head proves to have a forked tongue, after a page turn. Averbeck's simple shapes are outlined in pastel, a coloring-book style nicely suited to the deadpan narration. After venturing as far afield as dinosaurs and fossils, Averbeck circles back around to his starting point with another blue egg, "which will not necessarily become a baby bird"-the page turn reveals a gangly, pop-eyed chick-"except if it does." Even very young readers will find they've succeeded in following a rather convoluted piece of reasoning, clause by clause and picture by picture; it's a book in which the action unfolds in the mind as much as it does on the page. Ages 2-6. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.