Wow! It's Great Being a Duck - Hardcover

Joan Rankin

2.98

45 ratings by Goodreads

9780370323640: Wow! It's Great Being a Duck

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0370323645 ISBN 13: 9780370323640

Publisher: Bodley Head Children's Books, 1997

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Lillee won't learn to swim or fly -- she'd much rather stay on land. While her brothers and sisters are learning how to use their webs in the water, little Lillee waddles off into the woods. There, she meets a furry friend who shows her what delicious edibles lie in the forest. Before too long, though, Lillee realizes that this furry-legged, long-tailed, sharp-snouted, pink-tongued fox is just the creature Mother Duck had warned her about! Maybe it's better to try swimming and flying like the other ducklings after all...

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From Kirkus Reviews:

A cumulative tale from Rankin (Scaredy Cat, 1996, etc.), as much about the choice of typeface as it is a story, falls short despite its elegant, finely detailed artwork. Lillee is the smallest and thinnest of her brood to hatch. She wears a remnant of shell on her head, obscuring her eyesight, and balks at entering the water, even though her mother cautions that something named ``Furry-legs, Long-tail, Sharp-snout, Pink-tongue Fox'' will gobble her up if she doesn't get wet. Lillee takes to walking and repeatedly encounters the fox, but doesn't recognize him. When the shock of his true identity registers, it blows the egg shard off Lillee's head, and the fox gives mortal chase. Lillee takes to the water, and the air, as never before, with instincts to duckdom that had been found wanting before the moment of truth. ``Wow! It's great being a duck!'' she chirrups, but it's not clear why fear of the fox brings the desired results when abandonment by her parent and siblings do not. The various font sizes are so aggressively manipulated that they mitigate any potential momentum. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright �1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 1?Lillee, the littlest and last-hatched duckling, refuses to join her siblings in the water, preferring to travel on foot instead. Still wearing a piece of eggshell like a cap, she sets out through the forest. Her vision is so impaired by this shell hat that she cannot see up. Therefore, although warned by her mother about foxes, she does not recognize the furry-legged creature who leads her to delicious food and urges her to eat up and get plump. Ultimately, as she grows bigger, the shell rises on her head, and she sees the fox in all his wicked greed. Immediately, she learns to run, fly, and swim and soon is leading a normal duck life in a safe environment. The bright, brisk narrative is easy to read yet filled with vivid words. The accompanying cartoon watercolors, lively and funny, in all sizes and positions throughout the text, and the type in various sizes and styles, complement perfectly the sparkling story.?Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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