Bookseller Publisher Review
Duck!, from award-winning writer Meg McKinlay, is perhaps the most delightful picture book to feature a drawn-out play on a single word. The clues, laid out expertly in Nathaniel Eckstrom's illustrations, are bound to be overlooked in the first reading. When Duck disturbs the other farm animals' quiet afternoon by shouting its own name over and over, each successive animal is quick to correct Duck by pointing out the differences between them: 'Don't be ridiculous! You are a duck and he is a horse and I am a cow . you have funny webbed feet and I have these fine cloven hooves.' These corrections are wonderful to read aloud and will make for boisterous story times, aided by the rich personalities Eckstrom gives to each of the animals. McKinlay ratchets up the suspense with repetition and, as the story builds towards the final punchline and the true reason for Duck's exclamations, readers of all ages will be itching to see if their predictions come true. Recommended for children aged two to six, Duck! is a perfect farmyard addition to a long line of 'joke books' such as Jon Klassen's 'Hat' trilogy and Aaron Blabey's 'Pig the Pug' series. Michael Earp is a children's bookseller at The Little Bookroom
Kirkus Review
Fun with homonyms, misapprehension, and playful art defines this barnyard tale.No one will listen to Duck's repeated cries of "DUCK!"not the horse, nor the cow, nor the pig, nor the sheep. In fact, they all take offense at the duck's exclamations, misunderstanding them as self-referential and narcissistic. After each animal separately berates the duck for seeming to confuse them for one of its kind, they glare at the duck (now placing a bucket over its head like a helmet) and say, "Now listen. You need to stop this nonsense right now"; "You have to understand that everyone is different"; and "Some are ducks and some are not." The poor duck, cowering in the lower-right corner of the recto, protests, "BUT" and a page turn reveals the punchline: The duck wasn't confusing the other animals for itself; it was issuing a plaintive, well-meaning homonym as a command. Alas, the animals don't duck, and they're squashed like the Wicked Witch of the West beneath a farmhouse that falls from the sky. A backmatter copyright page underscores the intertextual reference to Baum's classic with a signpost labeled "KANSAS" and newspapers headlined "Tornadoes Hit Kansas" and "Batten Down the Hatches" amid the wreckage. Eckstrom's cartoon-style art enhances the humor at every turn, even including tiny, distant images of the house hurtling through the sky on pages before its crash-landing.Wonderfulsure to beckon repeat reads. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.