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Summary
Summary
Martin Waddell and Jill Barton team up for a ducky celebration of springtime, family, and miraculous new arrivals.
"Did you come in an egg?" Duckling gasped.
"All ducks do," Grandpa said.
Mommy Duck has laid a pale blue egg among the rushes, and soon it will be quacking time at the lake. Duckling has never seen a duck egg before and finds it very hard to believe that a baby duck could fit inside. But now all the family is gathering--Auntie and Cousin and Grandpa--and the excitement is high as they wait for a tap-tap-tap and a CRACK! and, finally, a tiny beak and a head poking out. Little listeners will be more than eager to join in their final chorus: "Quack-quack! Quack-quack-quack!"
Author Notes
Martin Waddell was born April 10, 1941, in Belfast, Ireland. He always wanted to be a professional soccer player. After having played for junior teams in Ireland, he left school at fifteen and held a variety of jobs, including working at a publishing company and as a night switchboard operator for a taxi company.
Waddell is now one of the most prolific and successful contemporary children's writers, with more than one hundred books to his credit, some of them under his pseudonym Catherine Sefton.
He won the 1986 Other Award, for his book Starry Night, which was also a runner up for The Guardian Children¿s Fiction Award and was shortlisted for the Young Observer Teenage Fiction Prize. He has twice won the Smarties Book Prize, for Farmer Duck and Can't You Sleep Little Bear? He also won the 1989 Kurt Mascher Award for The Park In The Dark, the 1990 Bets Book For Babies for Rosie¿s Babies and has been shortlisted for the 1992 Smarties Book Prize for Along The Lonely Road.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-When Mommy lays a pale blue egg, Duckling is curious about the baby nestled inside and asks his relatives questions about his own birth. He soon learns that he, too, hatched from an egg, and that all ducks are born the same way, even Grandpa. The family awaits the new arrival with excitement, and when the time comes, they stand around the egg and quack together to encourage it, but nothing happens. It is only after Duckling quacks softly to it by himself that the shell cracks and out pokes "a tiny wee beak, and a tiny wee head, just like Duckling's, but very much smaller." The simple text captures the anticipation and curiosity that many youngsters experience while awaiting the birth of a sibling as well as the joy of welcoming a new baby. While Barton's watercolor-and-pencil illustrations do not have the vibrant colors and irresistible charm of her artwork in Amy Hest's "Baby Duck" books (Candlewick), the pictures do provide a perfect balance for the quiet tone of the story. The pond setting is painted in slightly washed-out hues, and the depictions of the ducks blend realism with an expressive range of emotions. Purchase this title for a bit of variety in your new-sibling sections.-Joy Fleishhacker, School Library Journal (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Suitable for an Easter basket or as a gift for a new sibling, this deceptively simple story about the hatching of a duckling is a spring charmer. When his mother lays a new blue egg, Duckling has plenty of questions for his parents and relatives. "Did I come in one of those eggs?" he asks. "You did," says his father. "Your egg was lovely!" Waddell (the Little Bear books) captures just the right tone and gives just enough information to a sibling-in-waiting. When Duckling asks Auntie, "How did I fit in my egg?," she answers matter-of-factly, "You were much smaller then." Duckling protests that he doesn't remember his egg, but his grandfather chimes in, "I don't remember mine either," and assures him that all ducks come from eggs. Duckling's patience is rewarded when the baby cracks his shell and smiles up at him with time-honored, second child adoration. Barton's (the Baby Duck books) engaging watercolors underscore Duckling's initial innocence and gradual acceptance of his new role in the family. You can see the pride in his chubby duckling face as he announces to his Auntie, "Our egg jiggled a bit." Both art and text work together to present the family's cozy nest near the shimmering blue water as a reassuring place to celebrate life's changes with a joyful "Quack-quack-quack-quack!" Ages 4-8. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
In a warm tale, Duckling, his parents, and his loving extended family all await the day ""their"" pale blue egg reveals a new baby duck. Jealousy plays no role here; rather, inquisitive Duckling learns about his own birth and truly feels responsibility for and pride over his egg sibling. Barton's expressive watercolor and pencil illustrations are appropriately full of life. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Waddell adds an unusual twist to a familiar tale: "What's that thing?" Duckling asks, seeing the egg beneath his Mommy. Bemused to learn that there's a baby duck inside, Duckling goes to share the news, and finds out that he, his Grandpa, and every other duck came the same way--despite Cousin Small's skepticism. Barton populates a peaceful pond-side setting with white grownups and fuzzy yellow younglings, all clustering around a large, pale blue egg that refuses to hatch--until Duckling's own quiet "quack" results in a much larger CRACK!, "and out of the shell poked a tiny wee beak, and a tiny wee head, just like Duckling's, but very much smaller." The biological details may differ, but the situation and outcome will be perfectly meaningful to ducklings of the unfeathered sort, and the warm, low-key tone will provide a generous measure of comfort. (Picture book. 5-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
PreS-K. Waddell and Barton, whose previous book was A Pig in a Pond (1992), now turn their attention to ducks. Mommy Duck lays an egg, and Duckling is surprised on two fronts: he learns that there's a baby duck in the egg, and that he was once in an egg himself. Grandpa, aunt, and cousin come to look over the egg, and each adds a little more information to Duckling's knowledge of his egg days. How did he ever fit into an egg? You were much smaller then. In the last few spreads, children see the new egg rolling and cracking, and when the baby finally emerges, it's quacking time at the lake. The story is slight and a bit repetitive, as is the art, which uses an almost identical landscape in each spread. Ducks from Barton's familiar Baby Duck series are taken down a notch here to seem, well, more ducklike, but they are still endearing. The brevity of the text, which is filled with plenty of quacking, makes this a good choice for story hours. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2005 Booklist
