Duck
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Overview
The creator of Gator presents an enchanting follow-up about a carousel animal who longs to fly — and a love that is bigger than the skies.
Duck is a carousel animal who spends her days watching flocks of real, flying ducks — and her nights dreaming of soaring among them. Flying is all she can think about, until the day a lost little duckling waddles into her life. Soon Duck and Duckling are inseparable: they walk together, play together, even dream of flying together. Then the time comes when Duckling's yellow fuzz is replaced by long white feathers, and Duck is determined to do whatever it takes to help him learn to fly. But what if helping Duckling find his wings means being left behind?
Synopsis
The creator of Gator presents an enchanting follow-up about a carousel animal who longs to fly — and a love that is bigger than the skies.
Duck is a carousel animal who spends her days watching flocks of real, flying ducks — and her nights dreaming of soaring among them. Flying is all she can think about, until the day a lost little duckling waddles into her life. Soon Duck and Duckling are inseparable: they walk together, play together, even dream of flying together. Then the time comes when Duckling's yellow fuzz is replaced by long white feathers, and Duck is determined to do whatever it takes to help him learn to fly. But what if helping Duckling find his wings means being left behind?
Publishers Weekly
Like the star of Cecil's Gator, Duck is a carousel creature who longs for a new spin on life-she yearns to fly like the flocks she sees flapping by. When a wayward duckling adopts Duck as a mentor and friend, Duck rises to the occasion, literally, by teaching her young charge to fly. As Duckling succeeds at his lessons, however, Duck realizes that she risks never seeing her friend again.Cecil employs simple sentences and brief exchanges to infuse his quirky duck-out-of-water scenario with a plethora of universal emotions: " 'Now remember to be polite,' she said to Duckling as she straightened some of his new feathers. 'You're going to do fine.' " Cecil's finely brush-textured oil paintings, a mix of round spot illustrations and full-page scenes, present a Victorian-looking amusement park, which after the opening page is devoid of children, thus contributing to a mood of mysterious after-hours magic. In what has become the artist's signature style, dusky hues-grays, greens, browns, golds-prevail, helping draw attention to the whiteness of the ducks' wide wings. Ages 3-5. (Feb.)
Copyright 2007Reed Business InformationEditorials
Publishers Weekly
Like the star of Cecil's Gator, Duck is a carousel creature who longs for a new spin on life-she yearns to fly like the flocks she sees flapping by. When a wayward duckling adopts Duck as a mentor and friend, Duck rises to the occasion, literally, by teaching her young charge to fly. As Duckling succeeds at his lessons, however, Duck realizes that she risks never seeing her friend again.Cecil employs simple sentences and brief exchanges to infuse his quirky duck-out-of-water scenario with a plethora of universal emotions: " 'Now remember to be polite,' she said to Duckling as she straightened some of his new feathers. 'You're going to do fine.' " Cecil's finely brush-textured oil paintings, a mix of round spot illustrations and full-page scenes, present a Victorian-looking amusement park, which after the opening page is devoid of children, thus contributing to a mood of mysterious after-hours magic. In what has become the artist's signature style, dusky hues-grays, greens, browns, golds-prevail, helping draw attention to the whiteness of the ducks' wide wings. Ages 3-5. (Feb.)
Copyright 2007Reed Business InformationChildren's Literature -
Duck is a carousel animal very much in the tradition of Elizabeth Foster's 1943 classic, Gigi: The Story of a Merry-Go-Round Horse. In that book, Gigi comes alive so he can give his favorite Viennese children a chance to catch the golden ring. In Duck's case, she comes alive because she wants to learn to truly fly. Having no trouble getting down from her carousel post, she spends her nights watching the stars—and real ducks soaring across the sky. Everything changes when she adopts a real, live orphaned duckling. The problem is teaching it how to fly. What happens next is the answer to Duck's dreams. Randy Cecil's oil paintings illustrate the story in intimate telescopically-focused circles of the lumbering, wooden Duck's care for Duckling, and her anguish at the loss of her protege/child. Readers will thrill to open up full and double-page spreads to show the joy of homecoming. This is a sweet bedtime story perfect for parents and children to read as they cuddle together. Reviewer: Kathleen KarrSchool Library Journal
K-Gr 3- Duck is a carved carousel animal whose wooden wings are not meant for flying. After the park closes for the night, she steps down from her post and roams around. One spring day, a lost duckling finds her, and they begin to spend all their time together. As Duckling grows, Duck teaches him what he needs to know, but she cannot teach him to fly-though she tries. She uses her scarf to secure him on her back and sets out to find real ducks. Duckling's small wings carry them both into the sky, but Duck's weight is too much for him. She lets go of the scarf, hitting the ground with a thud, and he flies away. The winter is long and lonely for her, but in the spring Duckling returns, still wearing the scarf. Before he rejoins his flock, he helps Duck climb onto his back and shows her how it feels to fly. Cecil's illustrations, as in the companion book, Gator (Candlewick, 2007), are done in oils. Duck, with her bright, striped scarf, stands out against soft green and gold hues. Many of the paintings are in circles of various sizes on a white background with a gold frame. What could have been a sentimental tale becomes instead a beautifully realized friendship story with a happy ending. Like Opus in Berkeley Breathed's A Wish for Wings That Work (Little, Brown, 1995), Duck at last flies because of her good heart and a friend who makes her dream come true.-Mary Jean Smith, Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN
Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.