Publisher's Weekly Review
Bunny Rabbit and her brothers set sail to recover a beloved toy duck in this lighthearted seek-and-find adventure. Their journey begins "high up above the clouds" at the foot of a creaking glacier, but the scenery soon changes as the rescue effort takes them through forest, meadow, and marshland--over a waterfall and past factories, tulips, and more. Meanwhile, jaunty Little Duck, identifiable by the red ribbon tied around its neck, challenges readers to pick it out from Weightman's pleasingly busy scenes, which burst with the kind of clever and surprising details that encourage further imagining. A guide at the start encourages readers to follow the journeys of other recurring animal characters--like the roller-skating Chuck the Chicken ("Who will he help along the way?") and the motorcycling Road Hogs ("Why are they in such a hurry?"). Even after Little Duck has been reunited with Bunny--and a final twist has been revealed--there's ample reason to venture down this river again. Ages 4--up. (May)
Kirkus Review
Some rabbits sail down a river looking for a lost toy duck. As Bunny plays with her toy in the small river near her home, it floats away; her two brothers immediately join the search effort. Adventure ensues as the trio pursues the yellow, red-scarfed duck in their boat, following the river as it courses through forests, pastures, waterfalls, flower fields, and farmland and past assorted structures. Alas, the duck consistently eludes them. This is where the reading/listening audience comes in, invited from the outset to collaborate in the Where's Waldo?--type investigation. And the enterprise is playfully challenging, seeing as how the duck isn't always willing to be located too easily. Expect kids to have great fun poring over the numerous tiny, sometimes complex, details incorporated into the delicate, colorful, busy line illustrations that fill every spread--along with myriad other anthropomorphic animal protagonists; information about how those characters fit into the grand scheme of things appears on an introductory spread before the book's title page. There's just enough minimal, pithy text per spread, often with tantalizing hints to the duck's possible whereabouts, but the illustrations, naturally, are the main focus and draw. The ending presents two surprises--hint: The journey wasn't exactly what it seemed--and a hitherto-unheralded creature invites readers to return to the illustrations and locate it. This charmer demands and rewards repeat visits, and children will find unexpected pleasures every time. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Not content to tell just one story in this large-format picture book, Weightman offers a dozen, all running concurrently (and most unfolding wordlessly) in detailed, double-page scenes. The first spread introduces characters such as Bunny Rabbit and her two brothers (floating downstream in their red boat and searching for Bunny's favorite toy, Little Duck); the Road Hogs (pigs on motorcycles racing toward some mysterious destination); and Chuck the roller-skating chicken (repeatedly finding lost items and returning them to their owners). Kids will search each scene for their favorite characters. The last spread shows them all in one room, admiring a scale model of the varied settings they've just explored. Some of the pictures are quite busy, but purposefully so. In this seek-and-find picture book, first published in Belgium and the Netherlands, Weightman creates a certain amount of necessary chaos within well-structured compositions that offer depth and perspective as well as intriguing, often amusing details. Fine, precise line work gives the art a certain delicacy, while pleasing colors brighten every scene. The amiable text guides readers through the rabbits' search for Little Duck, but once that story's done, children will turn back to the beginning and follow another character's adventures. A engaging, rewarding picture book.
