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The Little Wood Duck (1987)

by Brian Wildsmith(Favorite Author)

3.45 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0192721011 (ISBN13: 9780192721013)

languge

English

genre

Middle Grade & Children's

publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

review 1: Mother wood duck laid six eggs and is very excited. When the ducklings finally hatch she is quick to get them in the water to learn how to swim. All six ducklings jump in and begin to swim. One little duck, though, can't swim in a straight line. He can only swim in circles.He is teased and ridiculed by his family and friends. It is not until a wise old owl tells him it is because one foot is bigger than the other that he understands there is a reason why he can't swim straight. But that doesn't solve the problem. When a fox comes along and tries to eat the ducklings, he becomes dizzy by watching the little one swim in a circle. All of the ducklings are able to get away and the little one is lauded as a hero.This book is classic Brian Wildsmith. I'm beginning to wonder if t... morehe material is becoming outdated. In this story the odd little duckling is called "stupid." As far as I know, that word isn't used as a name-calling word in childrens lit. any longer. We as a society also don't accept a person who's different only when they prove themselves useful. We teach our children to accept everyone for who they are themselves, not what they can do for the rest of us.
review 2: This book starts off slowly, with the business of the mother duck sitting on her eggs, showing them off to the other animals, etc. Wildsmith might have done better to cut that stuff and jump right in to the main "problem" of the duckling who can only swim in circles. So, yes, there's one duckling out of six who can't swim properly. This little duck goes round and round in circles, no matter how hard he tries to do something else. Of course he gets picked on and excluded. But one day, when a fox comes to the pond in the hope of grabbing a duckling for dinner, the circular swimming comes in handy. In his attempt to track the movements of the circle-swimming duckling, the fox becomes so dizzy that he passes out, enabling all the ducklings to safely make a break for it. Ta da, happy ending!Cute story, but not my favorite. It could have been more than it was. Wildsmith's exquisite illustrations make it worth the read, though. less

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