The secret valentine

K-Gr 2-When Duck realizes that she doesn't have a valentine on Valentine's Day, she devises a plan to bring all her friends together to celebrate. As she secretly delivers her anonymous party invitations, Hippo is hoping it is from Duck, Turtle is hoping it's from Pig (and vice versa), and Elephant is wondering if it's from Duck or Pig. As the time for the gathering draws near, each animal puts on their best outfit, gathers a treat to share, and heads to the park. They all arrive at exactly 4:00 p.m., but where is Duck? With a flourish she leaps from a bush and declares, "I'm the secret valentine!" and as she gives Hippo a rose she says, "The best valentines are friends" and all of the others heartily agree. Joyner's digitally colored illustrations depict the affable pals in varied settings including house, pizza shop, pond, grocery, bathroom, and street as they get their invite, prepare, and rush off to the park. Plenty of detail, white space plus fun text type and placement make for a lively read. Observant readers will see telltale signs of sneaky Duck as she delivers her missives and spot the birds on every page. An added bonus is a lesson in analog time telling. On six occasions that the text mentions time, there is a clock face somewhere in the illustration (alarm clock, clock tower, timepiece, sundial, etc.) with a blue minute hand and red hour hand with matching numbers. VERDICT A friend-affirming Valentine story with a time-teaching element to boot. A good choice for storytime or one-on-one sharing.-Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Duck is his friends' secret valentine in this latest in the Duck and Hippo series.When Duck realizes that she doesn't have a valentine on Valentine's Day, she's inspired. Sharp-eyed readers will catch glimpses of Duck as she stealthily leaves party invitations at Hippo's, Turtle's, Pig's, and Elephant's places. Each suspects their own special friend; Hippo and Duck, Turtle and Pig seem to be in relationships, though it's not spelled out in the text. Readers are then privy to the various preparations each friend makes to attend, and there's also some embedded time-telling practice. Excited Hippo brushes his teeth and dons his bow tie at 1:00. Turtle starts walking to the park at 2:00. Pig is bathing at 3:00. An hour later, everyone is surprised to arrive at the same time, but where is Duck? She makes her grand entrance as the secret valentine, presents Hippo with a red rose, and declares, "The best valentines are friends!" The group concurs as they all share the special treats they have brought. London's latest is lackluster. There's little in the way of character development, so those who don't know the series already are not going to know the friends any betteror care toafter finishing this despite Joyner's bright and cheery illustrations.For fans only. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.