Ducks Disappearing - Hardcover

Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689319029 ISBN 13: 9780689319020

Publisher: Atheneum, 1997

Synopsis

Counting and recounting a parade of baby ducks while eating lunch, Willie realizes that the ducks are disappearing one by one and tries to find help when he learns that they are falling into an open drainpipe.

About this title

About the Author:

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor won the 1992 Newbery Medal for her middle-grade novel Shiloh. The idea for Ducks Disappearing came from an experience of her own while watching ducks in a courtyard of a motel. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with her husband, Rex.

From Kirkus Reviews:

In the courtyard of the motel where Willie and his mother are staying, a mother duck and eleven ducklings are poking around. Make that ten ducklings--no, nine--``Something bad was happening to the ducklings, and it was happening very fast.'' Willie is worried but the adults--his mother, a waitress, a clerk, a bellhop, and a janitor--pay no attention. Told from the child's point of view, the story builds tension well and comes to a satisfying climax when Willie discovers that the ducklings have been slipping into a storm drain and are trapped. In a loud voice he demands help from the adults, and he gets it. While some of the pictures are soft and bland, Maddox's cartoonish style works well in a scene of the ducklings gazing up through the grate of the drain at Willie. An agreeable story from Naylor (Shiloh Season, p. 1053, etc.) that, though not her strongest work, makes some nice points about paying attention and getting help when it's essential. (Picture book. 5-8) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0689319029
• ISBN 13: 9780689319020
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Maddox Tony