Ducky

by Eve Bunting, David Wisniewski (Illustrator)

Overview

When a violent ocean storm causes a crate holding assorted plastic tub toys -- including one resilient little duck -- to wash overboard, the course of Ducky's life alters drastically. This engaging story based on a real event includes an author's note.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547768861
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/22/1997
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
Lexile:	520L (what's this?)
File size:	9 MB
Age Range:	3 Months to 3 Years

About the Author

Eve Bunting was the beloved, award-winning author of more than two hundred and fifty books for young people, including the Caldecott Medal-winning Smoky Night, illustrated by David Diaz, The Wall, Fly Away Home, and Train to Somewhere.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The bold illustrations and exciting action make the book a great story-hour pick." Booklist, ALA

Editorial Reviews

As the author's note explains, a true story inspired this plucky survival tale: in 1992, a crate of 29,000 bath toys washed overboard from a Hong Kong cargo ship, and hundreds of the toys have since turned up on beaches, primarily in Alaska. Here one of those toys gives his account. "I am a yellow plastic duck and I am in great danger," begins Ducky. Bunting (Smoky Night) uses simple declarative sentences that emphasize the plump duck's fear and isolation. He is nearly eaten by a shark and his brightly colored toy friends inadvertently abandon him. Finally buffeted onto a beach where many of his shipwrecked pals are likewise drifting ashore, Ducky is picked up by a friendly boy who takes him home to the bathtub, his destiny. Caldecott winner Wisniewski (Golem), using his celebrated cut-paper technique, employs a jovial palette that promises a happy ending. Textured plexiglass gives the multicolored ocean a remarkably watery feeling, and the duck is endowed with subtle, poignant changes of expression. This unusual bathtime story will easily float with the target audience. Ages 4-7. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PreS-Gr 2In 1992, a large crate of bathtub toys traveling from Hong Kong to Tacoma, Washington, was lost at sea. Since then, hundreds of the toys have washed ashore, with scientists recording their positions, plotting their courses, and using the information to further their study of currents, winds, and tides. Ducky is the first-person account of one yellow plastic duck that survived the journey to fulfill his destiny in a little boy's tub. In the throes of the adventure, Ducky wishes he could do more than just float, that he could swim, or fly. But, by journey's end, safe and with a child of his own, the contented toy concludes, "How wondrous it is to be able to float!" Bunting's narrative opens with the choppy rhythms and abbreviated sentences of an easy reader, but grows more lyrical as events progress. It is a bit cloying, though. Wisniewski's intricate paper cuts seem a bit grandiose for this modest, somewhat precious text. They will engage readers, however, and they are striking in their use of color and texture, in their composition, and in their interpretation of events. A bit out of sync, then, but likely to find an audience among the bathtub setand budding scientists as well.Marcia Hupp, Mamaroneck Public Library, NY

School Library Journal

Even with the considerable talents of Bunting (Moonstick, p. 1108, etc.) and Wisniewski (Golem, 1996), this first-person news-based story of what happens to a plastic bathtub toy when he and the other 28,999 tub toys in his crate are washed overboard during a storm at sea doesn't quite make the transition to the picture-book form. Ducky narrates his long journey into—at last—a child's hands, while an author's note about what scientists learned about currents, winds, and tides from the toys' travels upstages the fictional treatment. Although some children may find it easy to enter into the mind of a bathtub toy, the anthropomorphisms become tiresome, and the suspense is somewhat lacking. The illustrations do evoke the sense of isolation of drifting endlessly on the vast seas; this book will appeal to those who enjoy reading the adventures of toasters, but never makes the leap into the domain of such creatures as the tub people or the more tradition-entrenched little engine that could.

Kirkus Reviews

"The bold illustrations and exciting action make the book a great story-hour pick." Booklist, ALA —

From the Publisher