Farmer Duck

This is one of our favorites, both for my girls (age 6 and 10) and for my preschool classes. One thing most important to me in children's literature is language, grammar and sentence structure that is rich, varied, and clever. If you read a sentence each out of a stack of random Disney, Sesame Street or other character books, they all sound the same in terms of vocabulary and structure. If that is all the kids hear, they miss the experience of the richness of the language. If you read a sentence each out of Where the Wild Things Are, All the Places to Love, King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, Farmer Duck, etc. you hear a range of beautiful ways to use our language. Enough editorial - about this book. Another review summarized it well, so I won't do that. The pictures are wonderful. Someone else thought it was pretty political, but the only message I could get was "Don't take advantage of people" or "Stand up for your friends." It stands up well to being read over and over. And over and over and over. We read to my daughter every night, and this is one of the few that we don't hide after a few months so she will pick something else. One of our favorite lines: "The hens and the cow and the sheep got very upset. They loved the duck. So they held a meeting under the moon, and they made a plan for the morning. 'Moo!' said the cow. 'Baa!' said the sheep. 'Cluck!' said the hens. And THAT was the plan!" In my family now, if someone is going on about all the plans they have or what they want everyone to do today, someone will say, "Moo! And THAT was the plan!" This is a lovely addition to a child's or classroom's library.

Ladies and gentlemen, I demand an explanation. Would someone PLEASE take the time and effort to tell me exactly why it is that I had never heard of this book until the good people of the New York Public Library placed it on their, "100 Picture Books Every Child Should Know"??? Why isn't this book being handed out to every kindergartner that walks into school on their first day? Why isn't there a "Farmer Duck" Day where we all get to take off work and revel in the sublime pleasures of this text? And why, oh why oh why, was this book never recommended to me in any way, shape, or form? Ladies and gentlemen, I place the blame fully on a nation in which Madonna can create best-selling children's books because, according to her, there are NO good books for her kids (I'm having a hard time typing as I gag), while my beloved, "Farmer Duck" remains a small perfect gem in a sea of terrible literature. But I digress."Farmer Duck" follows the unlikely premise of a duck that runs a farm all by his lonesome. The actual farmer in charge of the place is a lazy no good so-and-so who would rather eat bon bons in bed than take the time to do any work. While the man relaxes in his shirtless luxury (occasionally shouting out a helpful, "How goes the work?") the duck cuts the wood, weeds the gardens, washes the dishes, irons the clothing, and pretty much does everything that needs doing. When at long last the duck grows, "sleepy and weepy and tired" (what a great way to describe any child that has gone too long without a nap, by the way), the other farm animals decide that enough is enough. Joining forces they run that rotten farmer out of town and set about all doing the chores equally with the duck in charge.The plot is good. The illustrations are brilliant. Illustrator Helen Oxenbury (thank you, oh England, for sending us such a talented artist) has taken watercolor to a whole new level. In a scene as rife with melodrama as any film noir, we see the sheep, the chickens, and the cow walking into the farm house just before dawn. Those moments before the sun has risen have never been so expertly rendered on paper until now. Oxenbury has created subtle gradations of grey and white, steeping the scene in a fuzzy day-for-night that is absolutely stunning. And the details! If you examine the scene closely you can see three watching sheep (one with head relaxing on its front hoofs) as the intrepid heroes creep away together. I'm sorry, but my written abilities are inadequate in describing this scene. Suffice to say, it's gorgeous.What a relief to finally read a farm story in which the animals really like one another (though, technically, the farmer is the most animal-like of them all). In the canon of ducks-as-heroes picture books, place this story squarely on the shoulders of the funny "Duck on a Bike" and "Make Way For Ducklings". Any child that wants to know anything about farming will do well to read this book. I'm gushing, and I don't care. It's

even two weeks after I read them the story in their second grade class. Kids love it. It has all the entry points for beginning readers, and adults love it too--for similar reasons. I've had university faculty tell me that it's the Communist Manifesto for kids (remember the centrality of labor, organization, and consciousness), that it's a Trotskyist text (note the role of the Duck at the end) and that it's a classic of feminism (note the multiple voices that had to be considered to fashion the uprising). It's a classic, from whatever interpretation, because it's full of joy, resistance, and hope.

A wonderful story in which the good are rewarded and the lazy and selfish receive what's coming to them. It's amazing how the character of Farmer Duck can come to life and become so lovable in the short space of the book. My sons enjoyed the story and I found it really uplifting to read and re-read. It's neat how the animals use animal language too.

My daughter often asks that I re-read certain books to her. _Farmer Duck_ is one that I never tire of re-reading. In this simple story of a hard working duck and a lazy farmer, we see virtue and industiousness rewarded and sloth and laziness get its deserved comeupance. Never heavy handed or violent, this book is quite charming. Significantly, it is the rest of the farm animals, who, seeing the injustice being done to the duck, band together to right the wrong. The large type and beautiful water-color illustrations are also easy-on-the-eyes and soothing for the reader, whether adult or child.