Salina Yoon, Duck, Duck, Porcupine!, Bloomsbury Australia, 1 Sept 2017, 64pp., $9.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781619637245
Fans of Lucy Cousins’ Maisy books and Brian Patterson’s Zigby series will love this easy reader/junior graphic novel, which introduces some great new characters to delight young readers aged 4-7 years old.
Big Duck is the bossy, blabby, know-it-all older sister. (Doesn’t everyone know one of those?) Little Duck is her younger brother who may not be talking yet, but always has the best grasp of every situation. And lastly, Porcupine provides a gentle buffer between the two extremes.
Salina Yoon’s full-page illustrations of bright, colourful line-drawings are very appealing. Virtually all the text is confined to speech bubbles so, with one character not speaking at all, it’s a fun fact that half the story is told in the illustrations. Young readers will love discovering this for themselves, and being in on the joke as Little Duck innocently bests his older sister time and time again.
Duck, Duck, Porcupine! contains three stories, set at a picnic, a camping trip, and a birthday party. My favourite illustration showed Big Duck and Porcupine hiding under a picnic basket and rug, bemoaning the fact that rain has ruined their picnic, while at the same time Little Duck is ditching his umbrella and hat to hold out a wing and feel the plop of a raindrop. You just know that the next page will show him off to splash in the puddles…but it takes another three pages before Big Duck finally discovers for herself, “This is FUN!”
This first book of a promising new series would especially suit children exploring beyond picture books for the first time, and those entering the wonderful world of independent reading.
Reviewed by Julie Murphy
