I'm a Duck

Reviewed by: Connie Smith - Breakwater School, Portland, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: August 15, 2018

Review

This is a lovely picture book written in rhyming couplets about a little duck who is afraid to get into the water. (Traumatized when he - still inside his egg - rolled from his nest, splashed into the pond, and was rescued by his mother. Encouraged to swim by his brother ducklings, a frog, and an owl, he is still too fearful and decides to practice his swimming in a puddle. Frog finally offers to hold duckling's wing and dive in with him, but the duckling protests. "I'd love to have you help me through it, but I'm the one who has to do it." So he does, to the admiration and cheers of his friends even though - his stoke is strange. He's backstroking! However, the little duckling is still able to swim in a line with his brothers. "No one says my stroke is strange or asks if I will ever change," says the duckling. The watercolor illustrations are expressive, soft and engaging. Use this book when studying farm animals or in the springtime.

Overall Book Score: very good