A wild mother duck lands in a pond outside a Tokyo office building; seemingly oblivious to the crowds of human observers, she raises her brood, then leads them across an eight-lane highway to a roomier body of water—the great moat in the Emperor's Imperial Gardens. The birds become national media celebrities; reporters camp out as police officers hover, ready to stop traffic when Mother decides to make the move. Later, three ducklings are washed away in a storm, but after an anxious search, two are recovered- -including the smallest, Chibi. Many children will have caught glimpses of this modern Make Way for Ducklingslike family on the news or in a documentary that appears frequently in the US. Brenner (The Earth Is Painted Green, 1994, etc.) and Takaya relay the facts with obvious affection for their subject and make the text just long enough to be divided into two chapters; it includes a smidgen of Japanese. Otani's neatly drawn, evenly lit watercolors capture the tale's simple charm in clean, roomy scenes of smiling people in casual Western dress photographing—but never trying to feed or handle—the dappled, lively ducklings. (notes, glossary) (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Feb. 20, 1996
ISBN: 0-395-69623-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1995
The creators of Gabriella’s Song (1997) return with another robust heroine, who is in search of the elusive pink-headed duck. Young Agnes Peregrine, the world’s most talented bird caller, travels to the distant Himalayas, little knowing that close behind stalks nefarious Colonel Edwin Pittsnap, intent on adding a new trophy to his vast collection. Dressing Agnes and her mother, famed ornithologist Octavia Peregrine, in bloomers, high-button shoes and full, elegant dresses, Potter shows the intrepid birdwatchers in a variety of outdoorsy locales, and when the mustachioed villain at last appears, Agnes’s operatic clucks and whistles summon a horde of delicately detailed avian allies (labeled and described on the endpapers) to drive the birdnapper away. Having put in an appearance, the duck wings off, leaving an appreciative audience of two waving farewell. The end may fall a bit flat, but Agnes shows admirable spunk in the clutch, and children, bird lovers or not, will want to imitate her hoots and warbles. (Picture book. 6-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-689-81471-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
Father Rabbit wants to count his very large family in this silly but appealing picture book. Unfortunately, every time he starts to count, they move, hop off, or start a game and he loses track. “ ‘One, two, three, four—oops! Oh, noggin-sploggin, boodle-doodle!’ he grumbled.” He waits until the bunnies are asleep to count them, and feels accomplished, but only until Mother Rabbit shows him the room where a lot of rambunctious little ones remain to be included. Delicately colored illustrations show all the frolicking rabbits, dressed in flowered and striped overalls and hats, climbing trees, dancing, playing hide-and-seek, and snoozing. Young children will enjoy the nonsense rhymes the father mutters every time he gets mixed up in this funny, soothing book. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-888444-45-2
Page Count: 26
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
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