The Kitchen Window · The five-night book · ages 3-5
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Read by an AI-generated voice. The words on this page are the transcript.
The Egg That Stayed
The hammer rang once. A spark jumped off the anvil and did not go out. It waited. They followed.
Tap, tap, on the kitchen window. Breakfast time!
"Watch closely, little one," said Bà Tư.
Some things go back.
Some things … stay.
"Watch it come back," said Frost.
Tí held an ice cube. Drip, drip. Water!
Into the freezer. In the morning: ice!
Tí squashed the dough. Flat!
He rolled it. A ball … again.
Melt it, freeze it. Back!
Some things go back.
Some things … stay.
Crack. The egg went in the pan.
Clear, clear, then white!
"Again!" said Tí. "Make it clear again!"
He wanted to put it in the cold bowl.
"This one will not go back," said Cinder.
The egg stayed … white.
Melt it, freeze it. Back!
Some things stay.
The toast went brown. It stayed brown.
Bà Tư held up her old blue bowl.
It had a chip on the edge.
"I kept that bowl," said Bà Tư.
The chip stayed. The bowl stayed … too.
Melt it, freeze it. Back!
Some things stay.
Some things go back.
Some things … stay.
"Which bowl for this one?" said Sorty.
Back bowl: the ice. The dough.
Stay bowl: the egg. The toast.
Tí held a melting spoon of butter.
"Back bowl!" said Tí. He put it in … himself.
Melt it, freeze it. Back!
Some things stay.
Back bowl, stay bowl.
Some things go back.
Some things stay.
And breakfast was the egg that stayed, in the bowl that … stayed.
The spark dimmed to a warm dot and settled back on the anvil. The Green was just the Green again.
Back on the Green
At lunch Tí held up a ball of clay. Squash! Roll! "Back," said Tí. Then he looked at his toast. "Stay."
Cut out the two-bowl card. Tomorrow at breakfast, ask: back, or stay?
Who you met
-
Bà Tư The grandmother who cooks and lets the children test from VầnTots -
Frost Some things come back — ice melts and freezes again, dough squashes and springs back from UncookTots -
Tí a child of the Green Notices small things; says "again" -
Cinder Some things stay — a cooked egg, toast, a popped balloon from UncookTots -
Sorty Sort each change into back or stay from UncookTots -
Lan a child of the Green Goes first; makes a friend in a minute -
Inkling a child of the Green Names what she notices
Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.
The Honest Page
Which parts of this story are true, stretched or made up?
True
Stretched
- In the book the dough rolls back into a ball. What we simplified: Soft dough can be rolled back into a ball, but once it is baked it stays. The book only shows the soft part.
Made up
- The talking owl, fox and hedgehog are made up. Real cooking needs a grown-up at the stove.