A mother duck and her five little ducks waddled out one day. Onto a bridge, then – ducks away!
A quacking new classic, from the best-selling team of Mem Fox and Judy Horacek.
A kids book with counting and dilemma.
About
The fourth book by Mem Fox and me. It’s the story of a mother duck crossing a bridge with five little ducklings in tow, who one by one fall off the bridge ‘into the water below’. I love this book for its simplicity and its hidden maths. You can act it out with lumps of yellow plasticine and a makeshift bridge of blocks or books, et voila, you’re demonstrating maths – not just counting, but playing with addition and subtraction. The palette is very simple: blue for the water, green for the hillside, yellow for the ducks, with tiny bits of orange for the beaks and feet. In an example of how the universe makes things play out, not long before I received the text, I had been looking at the ceramic works of Italian ceramicists, the Della Robbia family, from the 15th century in Florence, who use predominantly white, blue, yellow and green glazes, and had thought I would like to do a book using that colour scheme. And voila, this manuscript arrived from Mem. (Of all my picture books, I think this is the only one directly influenced by the fact I studied Art History at uni, with a whole year on the Renaissance. Maybe I should take a look at some other art historical periods for inspiration!).
Awards
Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Book 2017
Availability
Available at all good bookstores or through Booktopia
Editions
Scholastic Australia Pty Limited ISBN 978-1-76015-851-4
Scholastic Australia Pty Limited Large Edition ISBN 978-1-76097-594-4
Scholastic (US) ISBN 978-1-338-18566-9
Hardback with dust jacket, Scholastic Press USA, ISBN 978-133-818-5669
Reviews
The Children’s Book Council of Australia, 2017
“Another classic bedtime tale from legendary duo, Mem Fox and Judy Horacek.”