Danny’s Duck by June Crebbin is one of the sweetest stories for children. Every time I read it I think that we should all wish for such a perceptive and kind teacher for our young children. Clara Vulliamy’s watercolor illustrations are a perfect background for this gentle story and show a group of cute and ethnically diverse preschoolers at play.
At the start of the book a duck flies over a neighborhood looking for a “good woody place”. She flies down to a pile of brushwood at the edge of a playground. Inside the preschool, the children are busy with books, paints, and class pets. No one sees the duck arrive, except Danny. At playtime he looked for the duck. He had to look hard because her colors matched the colors of the twigs and branches she was nesting in. In school Danny drew a picture of the duck sitting on her nest. His teacher admires the picture.
The next time Danny visited the pile of brushwood, the duck was still there, sitting very still. She stands and up and stretches, showing off her eggs. Danny counts the eggs. In school he draws a picture of a nest with nine pale green in it. His teacher says the picture is lovely and talks about the ducklings inside, growing.
Every day at recess Danny visits the duck. The other children play on the playground and the parents walk close by on the footpath, but no one else sees the duck. One morning Danny ran to the pile of brushwood, but the duck wasn’t there and neither were her eggs. Danny cried and cried. In school he drew a picture of the empty nest. His teacher smiled and told him that the mother duck eats the eggshells after the eggs have hatched. At lunchtime Danny shows his teacher the pile of brushwood and the empty nest. Then his teacher takes the children across the school field to the pond. Danny is thrilled to see his duck and counts out the nine ducklings swimming behind her.
Also See:
The Tom and Pippo Books – Helen Oxenbury
Mr. Gumpy’s Outing – John Burningham
Tops & Bottoms – Janet Stevens