The palpable joy of the pre-k or kindergarten audience who knows a problem with a story must be caged, bottled, or otherwise sold to the late afternoon crowd. They know that the princess lives in a tower, so the audience is curious when the princess’s home is revealed to be a swamp. They’ll laugh as quietly as they can and squirm in their seats as they try not to be loud. Seven Little Ducklings delivers that same story time charm because kids think that they know the story, only to have it twist in ways that are unexpectedly cute or funny.
Seven Little Ducklings, as the name implies, should be a counting book about ducklings. It is a counting book. It’s probably cute, has seven ducklings and presents a warm story that’s energetic, yet, not too hyper for young ages. In class, it’s probably 2:05 and the mystery reader, stressed-out substitute or possibly tired teacher needs a book that can be stretched or curtailed, depending on the mood of the class. Granted that last descriptor is dependent on the person reading the book, as well as, the way that the audience interprets it.
However, as an illustrated book, Seven Little Ducklings has that vibe. It’s that feeling that something is bubbling just below the surface. And how far you allow that ooze out of the container depends on when and who you’re reading the book to. The momma duck has seven little ducklings who break out of their eggs one night when she’s fast asleep. She wakes up in a panic because her babies aren’t there and quickly swims around the lake trying to find them all. One is on a limb, another one is about to be eaten by a fox, one is stuck under a tree root and the others are stuck in some gunk in the water. The mother duck is able to find all of her babies, but then discovers that she’s rescued six more children than the eggs she was originally watching.
Some of them aren’t even able to swim, like the little mouse who was about to drown before she was rescued. The turtle that she picks up is able to swim like a champ, but looks nothing like a duck. Most of the ducks are yellow, but some of them have much longer necks are completely different color or have stripes on their chest.
The text that goes along with Seven Little Ducklings rhymes with every other line in ways that are cute or funny. “She pulls the babies from the ooze,….. then counts them, confused”, goes the text with a mother duck who’s looking about for brood. It’s simple enough for guest readers to dwell on each syllable and welcomes audiences to thumb through the book at their own pace. It does fall into the Venn Diagram of ‘counting book’, but there are only a couple of pages that have numbers and it’s not centered around kids learning to count. The focus in Seven Little Ducklings is on fun.
Kids will laugh at the fact that the mother duck has grabbed more babies than she started with. They’ll grin as she’s scolding one of her babies who is walking along a tree limb, even though it’s much more adapted at swimming on the water. The same kids will laugh as the eight babies look on as mom is rescuing a rodent with a tail who certainly does not belong in the water, much less in their family. The blended family aspect might be obvious to some young audiences. Wait, maybe it’s a book about accepting others as they are, and not about family at all. I’m reading too much into this book. You’re reading too much into this book.
It could just be a super-cute book about an animal mother taking on other little babies that weren’t initially hers. In reading the liner notes on the book’s jacket, it’s the latter that was the inspiration for Seven Little Ducklings. The book is just born from author Annette LeBlanc Cat watching one too many cute animal videos online. Not to say ‘just’, but there aren’t any ulterior motives, no agenda in mixed-animal-family metaphors, it’s just animal cuteness, which we could all use a little bit more of.
Seven Little Ducklings is by Annette LeBlanc Cate and is available on Candlewick Press.
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