The Duck Book

by Kenneth Kuenster MFA

Overview

The Duck Book is a picture book aimed at children of all ages, and their parents. It is designed to encourage dialogue between kids and parents, and to bring laughter and entertainment. It is filled with absurd questions and situations, like “Have you ever made a giraffe laugh?” combined with just such a picture, or “Have you ever grown a carrot too big for your pet pig?” Again with a picture. Also, “Have you ever shared a cake with a snake?” Now beginning to explore fear of all kinds, but lightly. All the many situations allowing kids to expand their imaginations. like “Do you sometimes get ahead of yourself?” Pictured on a trapeze, or “If you could fly would you land in a cherry pie?” with a very messy illustration. Absurdity is the key word, and the situations are flexible, and hopefully always funny, and unlimited in variety, for example, “Can you hoot like an owl?”, or do you share hot dogs with friendly frogs?” Or “If you pull a whale’s tail, do you go to whale jail?”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592112081
Publisher:	Histria Books
Publication date:	01/17/2023
Pages:	36
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	5 - 7 Years

About the Author

Kenneth Kuenster has written three novels. He is also a visual artist. His fiction and his visual art influence each other. The subject matter of his novels is art and artists of all kinds. He has spent much time in Europe, where many of the stories in his fiction take place. He has BFA and MFA degrees from Yale.

Editorial Reviews

2022-10-12
Life’s full of important questions.

“When you hear ‘duck,’ ” asks Kuenster, “do you lower your head? / Or do you smile?” Once introduced, a white-feathered, blue-eyed duck leads readers to consider a series of other questions, many of which use rhyming words for emphasis (and silliness): “Did you ever grow a carrot so big? / It was too big for your pet pig.” Simple with bold hues, the illustrations have the look of childlike doodles reimagined through MS Paint. They are engaging, but storytellers reading the tale aloud will quickly find the fatal flaw of the story; the majority of the questions have yes or no answers, shutting down many opportunities for conversation, predictive thinking, and imaginative discussions. The final question is surprisingly heavy for the tale. “If an elephant lifted you…and asked to be freed / should his roomies / be free too?” Readers may ask if the jail cell (for an elephant, a frog, and a snake) is a zoo or a prison. Astute readers may guess it’s the prison of the book itself, as all the animals appeared in earlier questions. There are no answers, which may please some readers but will vex others. It’s a strange, ill-suited book, one that eats away at readers as they contemplate the logic behind the questions, the artistic approach, and the development of the story. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Odd and off-putting. (Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews