Book Review: Duck! Rabbit!

Book #13

Book Image: 

Duck! Rabbit!

 By Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Illus. by Tom Lichtenheld.

2009. 40p. Chronicle, $16.99 (9780811868655)

Age Group:

PreS-Gr1

Genre:

Fiction

Awards:

Time Magazine Top Ten Children's Book of 2009, #1
ALA Notable Children's Book of 2010
PW Best Children's Books of the Year, 2009
Barnes & Noble Best of 2009 – Best Kids' Books, #3
2009 Parenting Media Award Winner – Book Category
National Parenting Publications Awards 2009 – Gold Award
2010 Texas 2×2 Reading List
Parents' Choice Silver Honor 2009
IndieBound Summer 2009 Top-10 Indie Next Kids' Pick
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, 2009 Best Book Award – Gold
A 2009 Junior Library Guild selection
Virginia Readers' Choice Elementary List – 2010-2011
Booklist 2009 Editors' Choice
Borders Original Voices 2009
Goodreads.com Best Picture Book of 2009 Nominee
Abilene Independent School District Mockingbird 2009 Reading Program Selection
About.com's Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2009

Topics/Issues:

Ducks, Rabbits, Animal Identification

ELS promoted:

Print motivation, letter knowledge, narrative skills, vocabulary, and print awareness

Format:

Hardcover

Author/Illustrator sites:

http://www.whoisamy.wordpress.com

http://www.tomlichtenheld.com

Categorization Tags:

E Rosenthal

Annotation:

Two unseen characters argue about whether the creature they are looking at is a rabbit or a duck.

Reactions/Observations:

As a mysterious creature presents itself, two off page narrators debate whether it’s a rabbit or a duck.  The “beak” can easily be called “ears” with a tilt of your head.  It’s easy to see how this simple line drawing can be confused for such different animal which is part of this book’s charm.  Rosenthal and Lichtenheld further illustrate the two sided nature of the drawing with additional dialogue and placing the image in context with props , scenery, and sound effects.  

I think this book is outstanding because the duality of the simple illustrations are fun and inspire conversation promoting letter knowledge and print motivation. The dialogue serves as great practice for talking through the story, promoting narrative skills.  Children will spend hours flipping the book vertically and horizontally to rediscover the duck and rabbit again and again. The story is simple enough to retell yet in combination with the images, allow for amusing retellings. The ability to re-read in new ways defines it as a book you can’t miss.