First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger.

This picture book opens with pages filled with thick paint and deep color.  It features paper cut-outs which children love that demonstrate transformations in nature.  From egg to chicken, from tadpole to frog, from caterpillar to butterfly.  Each transformation offers a cut-out panel and friendly, simple paintings.  The text of the book is equally accessible with just a few words per page and plenty of pictorial clues to the content. 

Highly recommended for early readers, this book would also be welcome in any classroom of toddlers and preschoolers.