Duck, Duck, Moose

PreS-K--Goose is gone and a young girl pleads with her friends, two ducks and moose, for help in finding their missing pal. The foursome ride through the farm on the tractor while other animals, like the horse and sheep, point them in the right direction. A gold key hung high in a tree appears to be an important clue to goose's disappearance, but after several humorous attempts to retrieve it, the ducks and moose land in the mud and return home without Goose. Sorrowfully, it's time for bath and bed. The next day everyone rejoices to find that Goose has returned, refreshed and happy after a vacation. This amusing book with a rhyming text delivered via repeating words and sentences will delight young children. Words like bonk, thud, thwack, and quack liven up the text and encourage readers to say the words out loud as the action develops. VERDICT This effusive book is an ideal read-aloud, but children will quickly feel comfortable attempting it on their own.--Anne Jung-Mathews, Plymouth State Univ., NH

Three title characters in search of a friend. A bespectacled, ponytailed White kid frantically informs two ducks and one moose who are busy playing cards that Goose is gone. In a state of great agitation, they set out in search on Big Moe, a tractor. On the road, two sheep and a donkey point to the right and send them through a gate. The increasingly befuddled moose, ducks, and kid perilously but unsuccessfully try to retrieve a key but are thwarted by angry wasps that "Sting! / Stang! / Stung!" the crew. Back home in the bathtub and then bed, the bovine and fowl commiserate with one another. But then thrills and happiness erupt as Goose--who has been surfing--returns home. Sharp-eyed readers will, of course, deduce where Goose has been all along from the illustration on the title page. The characters frequently speak in triplicate in the rhyming, dialogue-only text, as in "Run, run, run!" and employ sound effects as in "Baaa, Baaa, Neeeeeigh!" The rhythm and word repetition might appeal to emergent readers, but they will wonder why the kid gets involved in the first place and how it is that the ducks and moose don't know about Goose's clearly planned vacation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 55.8% of actual size.) A slight story that runs on high but falls flat. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.