Dawdle Duckling - Hardcover

Toni Buzzeo, a former teacher and school librarian, is now a full time author with many picture books to her credit, including Adventure Annie Goes to Kindergarten, The Sea Chest, and the Caldecott Honor winner One Cool Friend. She and her husband, Ken, divide their time between Sarasota, Florida and Buxton, Maine.

PreSchool-Grade 2-Poetic language and lush pastel artwork portray the antics of an endearing youngster who would rather daydream, play, and explore than tow the line like his siblings. As Mama Duck swims along with her three ducklings close behind, she continually urges her fourth child to catch up, but he is too busy having fun. Only when danger looms in the form of a predator does Dawdle Duckling pay attention to his mother's words. Heeding her warning, he makes a dramatic leap into the air and lands safely on her back. Buzzeo mixes a comfortingly repetitive text with fresh and evocative imagery. Her vivid language brings the landscape to life, as the birds move "Up the cove/toward the big rock rising" or "Along the shore/to the green grass sprouting." Each time the youngster refuses to obey his mother, a new phrase describing his actions is added, culminating in a duck who "dawdles and dreams,/preens and plays,/splashes and spins,/dunks and dips," and finally "looks- and leaps!" With their soft edges and brilliant colors, Spengler's paintings have a dreamy quality that matches the text's even tempo. Scenes of Mama Duck with her three matching offspring in a neat row contrast with close-ups of Dawdle Duckling zigzagging through lily pads, swimming on his back, and enjoying an underwater encounter with a turtle. Pair this picture book with George Shannon's Tippy-Toe Chick, Go! (Greenwillow, 2003), a tale of another free-spirited bird who likes to stop and smell the roses.
Joy Fleishhacker, formerly at School Library Journal
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.