QUACKERS

A cat who thinks he’s a duck learns about himself.

An illustration of a waving cat introduces readers to Quackers, the book’s protagonist, who, the text informs, “is a duck.” Quackers is secure in the knowledge that he’s a duck: “he lives at the duck pond with all the other ducks,” and “everyone he knows is a duck,” after all. Regardless, Quackers—shown as a lone ginger-striped cat in a sea of white ducks—sometimes feels different. Readers may find it odd that on the verso of the next spread Quackers is speaking “cat” but on the recto speaks English. However, the comedy of his trouble assimilating to duck ways—incorporating humorous speech bubbles and well-designed text placement—should ensure that it isn’t much of an issue. When Quackers meets another feline, he learns that the things that make him different from ducks are natural to a cat. However, after time among the other cats, Quackers misses his duck family. It is then that he learns he can enjoy both worlds, as he is both a duck and a cat, but “most of all, he’s just Quackers.” Harkening back to such classics as The Story of Ferdinand and Spotty, Wong’s debut may not feel remarkably new, but it is a welcome addition to the family of books about love, self-acceptance, and the embrace of the different.

Both relevant and adorable.