Booklist
"Masterful…Wattenberg’s quirky photo collages are perfectly suited for Lear’s nonsensical text."
Booklist
“Masterful…Wattenberg’s quirky photo collages are perfectly suited for Lear’s nonsensical text.”
School Library Journal
K-Gr 6—Lavishly illustrated collages using photographs and painted images by more than 20 world-renowned Naturalists help to bring Lear's nonsense poem to life. Marvelously detailed insects, birds, reptiles, and botanical prints grace the pages in this rhyming tale of the love between a duck and a kangaroo. The mallard, tired of pond life and longing to see the world, begs to be taken for a ride. Kangaroo has only one objection: "'Which is, if you'll let me speak so bold,/Your feet are unpleasantly wet and cold,/And would probably give me the roo-Matiz!' (O my achy bones, that is) said the Kangaroo." So, with Duck wearing a crocheted cloak and worsted socks humorously knitted to fit webbed feet, the two take off on their adventures around the world. The various poses of the photographed kangaroo and duck add to the humor of the preposterous but sweet relationship. And Duck's yellow eyes speak volumes: longing, chagrin, and love for Kangaroo. This title's delightfully silly verse, paired perfectly with elaborate pictures to scrutinize, should not be missed.—Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI
Kirkus Reviews
A lesser-known romantic lyric from the author of "The Owl and the Pussycat" is set to suitably wild photo-collage illustrations. Aching to see what lies beyond "this nasty pond," Duck begs for a ride aboard Kangaroo-answering Kangaroo's objections to Duck's cold, wet feet thusly: " . . . I have thought over that completely, / And I bought four pairs of worsted socks / Which fit my web-feet neatly. / And to keep out the cold I've bought a cloak, / And every day a cigar I'll smoke, / All to follow my own dear true / Love of a kangaroo!" Off they go "with a hop and a bound, / And they hopped the whole world three times round." Wattenberg endows her animal figures with comically expressive googly eyes and sets the courtship amid riotous multiple layers of exotic flora and fauna Photoshopped from an array of 19th-century Naturalist painters-including Lear himself-along with photos of custom-made duck socks and other silly items. Top marks for visual exuberance; this is the first separate edition of the verses available in this country in decades. (illustrator's notes) (Picture book. 6-9)
