John Philip Duck

John Philip Duck is a delightful story of a "dream come true". A story to share with children about dreams and just what happens when you work hard for something. And when children realize this is a true story it is exciting to them. Wonderful illustrations from Patricia Polacco to enhance the great story. This calls for a trip to Memphis with the grandkids.

This is a terrific book all the way around--message, creativity, illustrations. Patricia Polacco has done it again--what a wonder she is!

Patricia Polacco often imbues her fabulous children's books with social commentary (e.g., racial and religious prejudice, intergenerational differences, the challenges of being different, the importance of diversity and acceptance), but there's never been a Patricia Polacco book with so much contrast between the manifest and latent content. Outwardly, and as your children or young audience will probably experience it, the book's American dream motif features Edward, a young African-American teen growing up during the Depression who finds and trains a stray duck found on his family's farm in Memphis. He sneaks it into the hotel where he and his father work, and the hotel employees keep the duck's presence a secret. However, when the hotel manager finds the duck swimming with some "decoy" ducks (there for an upcoming duck hunt) in the hotel fountain, he gives young Edward 30 days to train all the ducks to march to the fountain each day, stay there swimming, and then duly leave in the evening. Because of his determination, the ducks succeed, and the Edward man gets his wish of a shiny uniform--similar to what his hero John Philip Sousa might have worn. It's a very good story with familiar Polacco elements: The triumph of the underdog, the resolution of conflict seeded in race, class, and age, and the fun, loopy drawings. However, this book is unusual--and noteworthy--for the subtle yet direct hits on the nasty and virulent social climate of that time. Polacco's illustrations of the somewhat ramshackle farm are benignly pastoral in sharp contrast to her portrayal of the Memphis hotel. The relatively wealthy white patrons and manager clientele are distorted rather than "loopy," with an appearance of corpulence and a suggestion of piggish consumption. The heavy makeup adds to this general air of decadence, and the pictures are almost grotesque, reminiscent of George Grosz, the German Expressionist artist and master of class-based social criticism. The stocky, stern Mr. Schutt becomes a much more callous and dangerous man, evolving from a curmudgeonly but "good" manager who calls Edward "my boy," to a threatening, gun-toting representative of the ruling class who later just uses the pejorative "boy." And the reward? A shiny uniform--instead of firing his two employees in the middle of the Depression. Lest you think I am exaggerating, note how the hunters (who enter the hotel with their live "decoy ducks," designed to attract ducks that the hunters will kill) are all white, as are the guests here in the segregated South, the head chef, and the clerk, the first-line representative of the hotel. Whether she intended it or not, Polacco lets a sinister underside slip through the warmth of her story, and there is a sleight of hand in her illustrations and narrative: Now it's a gentle story about a young man's dream--now it's a parable about the ugly side of human nature in general, and the beginnings of Depression era fanaticism in particular.

To get their family through the financial constraints of The Great Depression, Edward Pembroke and his father both hold jobs at the Peabody Hotel in town. Young Edward has two passions: keeping time with John Philip Sousa marches, and watching the wild ducks fly over his native Tennessee hills. When one duckling appears to be lost, Edward adopts him as his own and takes care of him ... even insisting upon taking the little guy to work. The hotel staff help Edward hide his pet from Mr. Schutt, the hotel manager. When the secret leaks out and Mr. Schutt demands an explanation, Edward demonstrates how he has trained the duck to march and maneuver to Sousa marches. Mr. Schutt is impressed but gives Edward a test project: just one month to train a whole flock of ducks to march to the hotel lobby fountain and to swim there all day. Of such stuff are legends born! Edward succeeds and becomes the Duckmaster of the Peabody Hotel, and the flock is led by his first adoptee, now dubbed John Philip Duck.Patricia Polacco's illustrations are deceptively simple yet vibrantly rich. They look as if one of us has colored in someone else's freehand line drawings -- until you see the outlines of the glasses on the tablecloth and the shadows of the china on the wall. The hills around the Pembroke house look as wild as the high-class Peabody Hotel is distinguished. The pictures match the storyline.This colorful and entertaining book should amuse both children and adults. And if you've never witnessed the twice-daily Peabody mallard march, you may have to schedule a trip to Memphis after reading this fictionalized explanation. Seeing is believing!