DK Readers: Duckling Days (Level 1: Beginning to Read)

A mother duck builds her nest, lays her eggs, hatches six ducklings, and teaches them about life on their own

Gr. 1. With clear, close-up color photographs in the DK style, this attractive title in the Eyewitness Readers series conveys a lot of information through a simple story. A mother duck builds her nest and lays her eggs. Six ducklings hatch out ("At first their legs are weak and wobbly"), they paddle in the water with their webbed feet, and one young duck is happy being on his own. The page design is spacious, with a generous amount of white space around the free-standing pictures. The text includes some repetition to encourage new readers, and on each double-page spread, a key word is boxed with a small picture. Children will see that facts and words are fun. Hazel Rochman