Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Duck's Ditty
Board Book
For ages 3 to 5
Flowerpot Press, 2018 ISBN: 978-1486713868
In 1908 Kenneth Grahame retired from working in a bank in London and he went to live in the country, where he spent a certain amount of time “simply messing about in boats” on the Thames River. He also worked on turning some stories that he had made up for his son into a book, and the result was The Wind in the Willows, a tale that is now a much beloved classic.
Early on in the story one of the main characters, the Water Rat, sings a little song that he made up about his friends the ducks. Rat’s friend Mole does not think much of the song, but the Water Rat does not seem to mind too much. Apparently the ducks didn’t think much of it either.
In this charming board book a gently abridged version of Rat’s Duck’s Ditty, is presented to young readers with lovely illustrations that beautifully capture the world that wild duck’s live in. We see the duck’s “dabbling” with their tails up in their air, and we see them looking for food underwater “where the fishes swim.” Though some of the ducks choose to fly around air, many of them remain in the river where they busily dabble away, with their bottoms up and their heads beneath the surface of the water.
