"Oh I wanna be a dog
I wanna dig big holes
I wanna sniff French Poodles and Bassett Hounds
And pee on telephone poles."
-- Barry Louis Polisar
"Duck sniffs Fox's leg.
"'You are mistaken, sir. I am NOT a DUCK!'
"Duck jumps up and down, slobbering on Fox's coat.
"'I am a dog! SEE! A very friendly dog!
"Duck jumps up and down and slobbers on Fox some more.
"Fox is confused.
"Duck sits. Looks adorable."
According to Wikipedia's "Duck Test" article, the origin of the saying "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck...then it's a duck" is attributed to James Whitcomb Riley, the nineteenth century children's poet who created Little Orphan Annie.
"Duck BARKS. 'BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! QUACK, oops! BARK!'"
This picture book -- which puts that old saying to the test -- is hysterical! When Fox breaks into the henhouse in the dark, he assumes that what he grabs and shoves into the pocket of his overcoat is a chicken. He'd thereafter is fully focused on evading dogs and hurtling fences to escape and make it back to his den. So he is a bit surprised to then pull a duck out of his pocket.
When he nevertheless decides that "a duck will do," Duck sets out to demonstrate, through any number of obnoxious canine behaviors -- which we all can recognize and appreciate -- that she is, in fact, a dog. She is so successful in being a canine pain-in-the-butt that Fox is not only persuaded that he has a dog on his hands, but he comes to the further conclusion that he does not have time for dealing with the consequences of being a dog owner ("Foxes need sleep. We don't have time to mend socks and clean carpets."). Fox then dumps Duck back over the fence from where she came. As Fox heads home to his den, he is actually contemplating how much he will miss his dog. Then he sits down in his easy chair and sees the egg in the corner.
While preschoolers will surely be rolling on the floor to see Duck being a dog, the multitude of possibilities for mining the sophisticated humor, and expanding on the important concept of inductive reasoning, makes this a book that will play well all the way up through the elementary grades.
Recommended by: Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks (https://richiespicks.com/)
