Eggs

Eggs is a young adult novel by Jerry Spinelli that was published in 2007. The story outlines a relationship that develops between two children that seemingly have little in common other than loneliness. Plot Nine year old David Limpert's mother, Carolyn, slips on a wet floor without a wet floor sign, falls down the stairs, and dies. David's family, consisting of his grandmother Margaret, his father, and himself, moves from Minnesota to Perkiomen Township, Pennsylvania. He becomes quiet, sensitive, and attached to an idea that if he follows every law and rule (some of which he arbitrarily created) perfectly, then his mother may come back. David's father, a sales manager, only comes home on the weekends; so he is raised by his loving grandmother, who he disrespects and ignores completely. David's grandmother takes him to an Easter Egg hunt, much to his disappointment. While hunting for eggs, he finds a beautiful girl resting underneath the leaves by some trees. When David asks if she's dead, she makes no response. Believing she really is dead, he starts talking about himself. Eventually he leaves, thinking a newspaper will carry the news of her death. However, it turns out the girl is alive - she is a thirteen year old named Primrose Dufee, who defies all rules. She has no father but a fortune-telling mother. In a short time, the two children become great friends. Primrose lives in a 1977 van instead of a home. She sets off on a journey with David, who seemed to have no choice when she said she would go to Philadelphia. Later, she admits that she wants to see the Waving Man, a man who had been seen on TV, and known for waving at people as they passed. She also confessed that she wanted to ask why he waves. Much to David's shock, the two spend the night alone and away from home, since they couldn't make it back in time. David finds a comic book, Veronica, and reads to Primrose until she goes to sleep. In the morning, they are soon found by a police officer who had been looking for them throughout the night; but not before David sees the sunrise, which he had vowed never to do without his mother, since before she died she had promised him that they would watch it together. The book ends with David planning his 10th birthday party. He leaves to go to Primrose, and helps her shove her beanbag back into her home. She wants to move back in with her mother, who had been the first to see her back in town when she came out of the police cruiser.