Playful and comically hopeless Duck and Goose are back in a fall-themed board book.
In this episode, the duo admires their friend Thistle’s pumpkin. They set out to find one, but they look in all the wrong places and become distracted along the way by the fun that can be had in autumn. The feathered friends have no luck finding a pumpkin in a pile of leaves or up an apple tree. Thistle suggests they try the pumpkin patch, and the final spread shows the twosome marching off with an extra-large pumpkin and congratulating each other on their pumpkin-finding abilities. While some of the jokes will likely go over most toddlers’ heads, youngsters will identify with Duck and Goose’s distractibility and their obsession with something new. Hills’ oil paintings, done in warm fall tones and stretching to the edge of the oversized pages, are as fresh and lively as any of the other titles in the series. The text is told entirely in snatches of dialogue; Duck, Goose and Thistle’s utterances hover close to the speaker and help to differentiate the three characters.
This autumn tale is charming enough to enjoy throughout the year. (Board book. 2-4)
