5 Little Ducks by Denise Fleming (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- 5 Little Ducks by Denise Fleming
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4814-2422-6 $17.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-4814-2423-3 $10.99 R 2-4 yrs
In what might be called a decumulative story, a set of sibling ducklings goes out each day and returns with one fewer duck every time. That’s a slightly ominous tale for the perky rhyming text, but the art reveals the playful reason behind it: each day one duckling falls in with another species of animal, so one tries out being a flying squirrel, another a wild turkey, and so on, with the last little duckling ending up in a wading pool with a little girl; the next day all the babies come back home. The book cleverly incorporates several concepts along the way—numbers from 1–5, days of the week, and animal ID—without pulling focus from the lively duck story. Fleming’s inimitable fiber art retains its usual luxuriant tones in the full spreads; while the high saturation means that sometimes there isn’t much contrast between ducklings and their surroundings, the resulting seek-and-find element is in keeping with the book’s approach, since kids will be puzzling out what each duckling is up to anyway. Compositions are skillfully varied, and colorways range from the rosy pink and chocolate brown of the pig wallow to the lemony sunshine of a bright morning. Animal lovers will especially warm to this multipurpose storytime treat. [End Page 214]
