Ducks, Ducks, Ducks - Hardcover

PreSchool-- From morning to night, from country to town, a family of ducks bounces through an uneventful day. First Mother Duck issues each of her four children a purple towel and watches them bathe and shampoo in the lake. After breakfast they board a bus that takes them to Grandma and Grandpa Duck in town. Shopping, picnicking, and the movies fill the afternoon. Evening finds them watching TV while they use chopsticks to eat takeout Chinese vegetables. As the moon rises over nearby skyscrapers, the grandparents tuck them in. Ho hum! There is little to catch readers' interest. The ducks, drawn with quick squiggles and bright orange beaks, are not individualized; in busy crowd scenes, the main characters are hardly distinguishable from others around them. The smallest, a girl in a purple and white bonnet, appears large in another picture. The story is told in rhymed couplets, interspersed with lilting word play--"walking ducks/ waddling ducks/ wiggling waggling wobbling ducks." At times expressions seem thrown in to make rhyme or meter work. Following animals through a variety of activities is a workable idea. Ruth Krauss's Bears (HarperCollins, 1948; o.p.) is just one such successful effort. This example doesn't make the mark. --Nancy Seiner, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In simple, rhymed phrases Otto ( That Sky, That Rain ; Dinosaur Chase ) tells of four ducklings from the country who visit their grandparents in the city. The siblings tumble out of bed, "ducks half awake / ducks in the morning"; bathe in the lake, "dipping ducks / dripping ducks / dunking / ducking / duckling ducks"; and climb aboard a bus that takes them to the bustling, traffic-congested town, "duck cars / duck planes / duck trucks / duck trains." The ducklings enjoy a trip to a toy store, lunch in the park, cartoons in a theater and Chinese food in front of the TV before being tucked into bed in their grandparents' apartment. Although not particularly inventive, Otto's peppy, alliterative verse will hold the attention of young listeners and beginning readers. Successfully fleshing out the minimal text are Coxe's playful, childlike watercolors. Ages 3-6.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.