This is a comical book about a horse who finds a "rare egg." If your children enjoy the Elephant and Piggie books, they will enjoy this one as well.

Steve is up to it again! This lovable horse clearly has no idea how the world works and his interactions with it make for delightfully silly stories!
I love that Steve is confident in his wrongness and that the other animals are tasked with helping him discover the truth- as seems to be the social order for so many kids (and adults). Highly recommend this book!

ARC Copy...Steve is at it again...meaning although his approach to the "egg" is logical, he still is ignorant about it and does it with his own hilariously arrogant style!

I have not read the first Steve book but I really enjoyed this second book in the series and it wasn't confusing to pick this one up having not read the one before, which I loved! Steve is a goofy loveable character who stumbles upon a balloon and decides to keep it as his own -- the only problem is he's not sure what it is. One of the best parts of the book was how his friends act as a foil to Steve and encourage him to base his ideas about the balloon on facts rather than assumptions. This would be a great jumping-off point for any teacher or parent and an age-appropriate way to talk to young kids about facts, assumptions, fake news, misinformation, etc. I know a lot of teachers and librarians are looking for age-appropriate texts for talking to young kids about these fundamental ideas. Most of all though this is a fun book about discovery. The whole time the suspense builds because Steve thinks the balloon is an egg and you keep wondering, "when will this balloon pop?" This is a great addition to any public or elementary library or early reader collection. This is a great book for beginning readers and one that would be fun for a read-aloud. Pick this one up today! Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Steve the horse is nothing but sure of himself. Without checking anything out, he decides that a balloon is actually a red egg. His friends advise him to check it out — but oh, no! Steve has as much self-assurance as he does ignorance. (If Steve reminds you of someone else, I don’t know if that’s a coincidence or not. Steve, however, is a bit smarter and not cruel at all.)

I had not read the first in this series, but it would work as a stand-alone. Kids will probably love this book, I found dealing with Steve to be exhausting. (Again, don’t know if that’s coincidence or to be expected.)

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Kids Can Press in exchange for an honest review.

This was so so cute. The kids will laugh and so will you! This was such a fun time to read. Definitely recommend.

Looking at the cover of this book along with the title, you can tell that Steve will be an endearing character. Indeed, the book is all about his discovery of a red balloon, which he tries to convince his animal friends is a rare egg. Of course none of them know what a balloon is so throughout the book, Steve is caring for the "egg" while his friends are trying to get to the bottom of this mystery. When Steve attempts to incubate, the balloon pops, immediately confirming for everyone that it was indeed not an egg. Though heartbroken at first, Steve is assured by his friends that he took good care of the "egg" and that he is a great scientist for discovering that it was indeed not an egg.

This is a funny, light-hearted book. Raccoon's sharpness makes for witty exchanges between him and the silly Steve. The last page cleverly depicts a bird family in a tree, a balloon tied to their branch, reminiscing as if the balloon were indeed their egg, showing that Steve is not the only gullible one. I would recommend this to young readers looking for a silly, lighthearted read.

Definitely better than the first graphic novel in the series. I was not as irritated with Steve and his selfishness, although he does still tend towards being self-absorbed or, in this case, caught up in his own ideas so he doesn't listen as much to those around him. That being said, it will make for a silly story for an early reader or even for a read aloud. The picture book may be better for read aloud, but these are less graphic novel structure than others and, as a result, could probably be read like a picture book at bedtime to a younger child who may just be intrigued by the story of Steve. Or have read the picture books and want more.

The artwork is fun and consistent with the picture books and what works for this age demographic. Nothing to complain about there. And there is. a lesson buried in the story, but I can't say that it is really apparent and, for the most part, Steve seems to keep going as though he didn't learn anything from his experience hatching a rare egg.

I probably could see it in my heard to push this one to a 4 star if there had been some growth on the part of Steve. He is a foil for the other characters and does get a message across about being stubborn, but for a younger reader, not having him truly learn is a challenging way to end things. He learns a bit, but not a lot.

This is a goofy book, which kids will love! Steve doesn't have a clue and kids will love being smarter than he is about the fact that a found balloon is not an egg. Steve thinks he is very smart and ultimately figures out (after the balloon pops) that the balloon is not an egg. There's a tiny side story there about the fact that Steve kind of uses the scientific method to disprove his hypothesis. The scientific words aren't used but there's a message there about how an experiment that disproves something is not a failure...it's just a different thing you've learned. I think this book is most suitable for the kindergarten crowd though a little younger and older would probably also enjoy. My only hesitation about the illustrations is what is Steve supposed to be? I get the sense that he's supposed to be a horse...but if so, he's the ugliest horse I've ever seen!

The illustrations are absolutely stunning, Overall, the book was well written and I did really enjoy it. Thank you for this advance reading copy!