QUACK!

If it quacks like a duck…it’s just fun.

Digitally designed caricatures of 10 animals populate the 20 pages of this simple adventure that also functions as a counting book. Oversized 9-inch-square pages provide room for an ever growing cast of animal characters who don’t understand duck language. On the inside cover, the duck meets “ONE very BIG [and purple] elephant” and then two giraffes, three horses, four pigs, five monkeys, six flamingos, seven grasshoppers, eight spiders, and nine bluebirds. To each it says, “Quack!” and when it’s not understood, “the duck just kept waddling….” The text is somewhat longer than in most board books, but the repeated sentence structure keeps it accessible. Number words and names of critters are in a larger font, which helps young children focus on this key information. Each animal busily does what that animal is best known for (eating leaves, grazing, rolling in mud, etc.). As a clever nod to a traditional counting song, the monkeys are jumping on the bed. On the next spread, the duck sees the flamingos standing on one leg and “wondered what the other leg was for.” This joke will amuse adults but goes right past young children. However, they will want to pause on each spread to count the animals and “Quack!” with the duck. When at last the duck sees 10 other ducks, the volley of reply quacks invites readers to join in.

Repeated quacks and a fair bit of waddling are guaranteed to quack up toddlers.