Swim, Duck, Swim!

by Susan Lurie, Murray Head (Photographer)

Overview

It's time for Duckling to jump in the water and do what ducks do—swim! But he doesn't want to get wet. He'd rather take a nap. And he's really, really mad that everyone keeps telling him what to do!

Luckily, Mama and Papa Duck are very, very patient, and soon, Duckling will join his siblings in the pond. Swim, Duck, Swim! by Susan Lurie and Murray Head is a charming story, illustrated with exquisite, up-close photos, that will help young readers learn to swim—or try anything new.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466870437
Publisher:	Feiwel & Friends
Publication date:	05/20/2014
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	32 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Susan Lurie is a children's book editor and author. Her most recent children's book, Frisky Brisky Hippity Hop, was published in 2012 by Holiday House. Susan lives in Forest Hills, New York, with her husband and their pet fish, Pickle.

Murray Head is an award-winning photographer whose true passion is capturing images from nature. The photos in Swim, Duck, Swim! were all taken in Central Park. He is a lifelong resident of New York City.

Murray Head is an award-winning photographer whose true passion is capturing images from nature. The photos in Swim, Duck, Swim! were all taken in Central Park. He is a lifelong resident of New York City.

Susan Lurie is a children’s book editor and author. Her children’s book, Frisky Brisky Hippity Hop, was published in 2012 by Holiday House. Susan lives in Forest Hills, New York, with her husband and their pet fish, Pickle.

Editorial Reviews

04/21/2014
In this jaunty read-aloud, a duckling isn’t keen on the idea of learning to swim. Head offers crisp, full-bleed photographs that show the tiny duck waddling along a dock, while Lurie playfully imagines it refusing to heed its parents’ gentle urging to hop in: “Sorry, but I cannot stay. I won’t swim. You forget./ I told you once. I told you twice. I don’t like to get wet.” Water-shy readers will identify with the duckling’s quandary, but also, perhaps, with the success it finds after diving in with a splash: “I’m in the pond! Look at me!/ Hooray! I’m not afraid.” Ages 3–7. (May)

Publishers Weekly

A little duck does not want to swim . . . The message about trying something new is pretty straightforward, and readers will understand quickly that this is just what the little duck should do.” —Booklist

“Sure to delight any animal lover or reluctant child needing the confidence to try something new . . . A winner for group or one-on-one sharing.” —School Library Journal

“Standing in for any reluctant preschooler faced with a new experience, a duckling goes through stages of irritation at parental urging and then nervousness before finally taking a first plunge…. A childhood triumph portrayed just right. Both the archetypal challenge and the creative collaboration go swimmingly.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Water-shy readers will identify with the duckling's quandary, but also, perhaps, with the success it finds after diving in with a splash.” —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

★ 2014-03-03
Standing in for any reluctant preschooler faced with a new experience, a duckling goes through stages of irritation at parental urging and then nervousness before finally taking a first plunge. Duckling has no trouble with self-expression: "I told you once. I told you twice. / I don't like to get wet." His feelings are reflected with astonishing veracity in Head's (Frisky Brisky Hippety Hop, 2012) sunlit, close-up color photos. Taken in New York City's Central Park, the full-bleed pond-side scenes mostly feature a pair of adult mallards attending to a fuzzy hatchling who really looks angry, stubborn, pensive, apprehensive and, at last, gleeful thanks to an artful eye and clever angles of view. Lurie's rhymed monologue reads with a natural rather than singsong cadence and is set out on each spread in a few lines or partial lines that match the accompanying picture wonderfully well. "I'm in the pond! Look at me! / Hooray! I'm not afraid!" A childhood triumph portrayed just right. Both the archetypal challenge and the creative collaboration go swimmingly. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews