The Tale of the Mandarin Duck: A Modern Fable

by Bette Midler, Michiko Kakutani (Photographer), Michiko Kakutani (Afterword)

Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Inspired by the real-life rainbow-colored Mandarin Duck who appeared in New York’s Central Park in 2018, this modern fable by Bette Midler celebrates the connections people make with each other and the world around them. 
 
How do you get people to appreciate what is right in front of them? In The Tale of the Mandarin Duck, it takes a mysterious, beautiful duck and a clear-eyed kid to point out the obvious! Bette Midler’s distinctive voice joins striking photos of the real duck by Michiko Kakutani and charming black-and-white drawings by Joana Avillez. This book will have readers of all ages coming back to visit the fantastical interpretation of New York City and its odd ducks—both feathered and human. 
 
An afterword by Ms. Kakutani adds details to the facts behind this one-of-a-kind story of the Mandarin Duck.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593176764
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	02/16/2021
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	224,633
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD640L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Bette Midler is an American actress, singer, and comedienne. She remembers the time before cell phones. Visit her on Twitter and Instagram.
 
Michiko Kakutani is a Pulitzer Prize–winning literary critic and the former chief book critic of The New York Times. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Death of Truth.
 
Joana Avillez is an illustrator from New York City, where she still lives and works. Her clients include Apartamento, Gucci, Hermès, the Museum of Modern Art, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, The New York Times, The Paris Review, Penguin Random House, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Vogue, Zeit Magazine, and more.

Editorial Reviews

★ 12/14/2020

Inspired by the mysterious 2018 appearance of an exquisite Mandarin duck in Manhattan’s Central Park, this story is rooted in reality yet slyly surreal. As the fable opens, New Yorkers, “world famous for their liveliness... looked each other in the eye, and pretty much liked what they saw.” But a pall descends with the advent of cell phones, as people become mesmerized by the small screens in their hands and lose their connectedness to one another as well as to the world around them. Enter the Mandarin duck, “something so rare that he had to be seen with your own two eyes, and remembered with your heart.” When a perspicacious girl puts away her phone to revel in the duck’s splendor, others do likewise, and discover “that all around them are rare and beautiful birds, with and without feathers.” There is a crackling creative synergy among the book’s collaborators, each of whom contributes bountifully to the storytelling: actor Midler with a chipper yet resonant text, critic Kakutani with crisp photos capturing the rainbow-hued duck against brilliant fall foliage, and artist Avillez with whimsical black-and-white line art that engagingly depicts city folk in various pursuits. Ages 3–7. Author’s agent: Jonathan Ehrlich, Grubman, Shire, Meiselas & Sacks. Illustrators’ agents: (for Kakutani) Kim Schefler, Levine Plotkin & Menin; (for Avillez) Kate Mack, Aevitas Creative Management. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

12/01/2020

Gr 3–5—Not to be confused with Katharine Paterson's multiple award-winning The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon, this self-conscious "modern fable" swaddles an actual bird's 2018 visit to New York City in thick layers of wishful thinking. Once, Midler writes, New Yorkers were lively folk who "looked each other in the eye, and pretty much liked what they saw." Then the advent of smartphones put an end to all the personal interaction—until, that is, the public furor created by an exotic duck's brief stay in Central Park taught people to use their eyes again to see "that all around them are rare and beautiful birds, with and without feathers." The illustrations, in which Kakutani's sharp color photos of the gorgeously hued duck and aerial duck's-eye views of Manhattan alternate with Avillez's monochrome ink and wash galleries of busy, diverse humans adorned in similarly stylish garb, will be more of a draw to younger readers than the affected story or the celebrity names on the cover. Regardless, the photographer's afterword, which is archly entitled "Why a Duck?" and includes a reference to a scene in The Sopranos, points directly to adults as the intended audience. VERDICT An additional purchase, at best; the authorial dedication says it all: "For the birds."—John Peters, Children's Literature Consultant, New York

School Library Journal

★ 2020-11-18
In 2018, New Yorkers had an all-too-brief but oh-so-passionate love affair with a rara avis (literally).

In the fall of 2018, a mandarin duck was spotted in New York City’s Central Park. Native to East Asia, the duck was an ornithological surprise that immediately captivated urban dwellers. People flocked to the park to take photos on their cellphones. In this retelling of the incident, a girl of color stands up on a rock and proclaims that she will gaze upon the beautiful bird directly “with [her] own two eyes.” Her words catch on, and soon everyone follows suit. Some months later the bird disappears, but lingering on is an appreciation of beauty all around that can be viewed directly, not through a device. Midler has crafted a loving ode to the people of New York, to the errant bird, and to the art of direct communication, something at which the star of stage and screen excels. Stunning full-page color photographs present the duck in all its magnificently colored feathered panoply. Grayscale sketches that fill many pages present a dizzying array of city folk in all their robust diversity. Adults and children wistfully remembering a socially close NYC will appreciate this moment from a past time. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 42.5% of actual size.)

A celebration of beauty—in a city, in its people, and in an extraordinary avian visitor. (photographer’s note) (Picture book. 4-10)

Kirkus Reviews

Midler has crafted a loving ode to the people of New York…. A celebration of beauty—in a city, in its people, and in an extraordinary avian visitor.” –Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“This story is rooted in reality yet slyly surreal…. There is a crackling creative synergy among the book’s collaborators, each of whom contributes bountifully to the storytelling.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review

From the Publisher