A charming true story that captures the connection between people and nature through gorgeous images and an engaging...
An illustrated children’s story about how author/illustrator Williams and her husband taught a duckling to rejoin its peers, based on her previous account, which was aimed at an adult audience (Super Duck: A True Story, 1986).
The story begins with the narrator duckling’s parents looking for a place to hatch their eggs. They choose a boathouse owned by Jane and Don, who soon become central figures in the young duck’s life. (Williams describes the mother duck’s egg gestation in scientific terms but without it ever feeling too technical.) When the duckling begins to crack out of her shell, she pecks the shell so hard it rolls from the nest. Exhausted, she falls asleep midhatching; when she wakes, her mother and siblings are already gone. Luckily, Jane finds her, and Don helps her break through the rest of her tough shell; they become the duckling’s new parents. They name her “Super Duck” and eventually help her get free of a piece of shell that’s still stuck to her wing, days after hatching. Her early days are quite domestic, complete with a teddy bear and human cuddles, but Jane and Don soon start transitioning Super Duck to the outdoors. They protect her from predators but also try to introduce her to the local duck population. As Super Duck learns the things that normal ducks do, so do readers, and although children may like to imagine that Super Duck would stay with Jane and Don, they’ll also cheer when she starts to live the life of a normal duck in the wild. Williams’ black-and-white illustrations are wonderfully realistic, and the choice of the duck as the narrator gives this naturalist’s story a more childlike voice. Budding nature lovers may also find this book to be an effective bridge to other titles about animal rescue and bird rehabilitation.
A charming true story that captures the connection between people and nature through gorgeous images and an engaging narrative voice.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4808-3478-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.
One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.
It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-51233-5
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Robin Corey/Random
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.
This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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