Lucky Ducklings

Author: Eva Moore
Publication Date: 2013
Type of Book: Picture Book

This picture book shares the true story of a family of ducks from Long Island, NY. The mother duck and her ducklings were taking a walk through town one day. The mama duck crossed over the storm drain and closely behind were her babies. The only problem was that her babies were a lot smaller than her and because of these each of them fell into the drain. Someone from he town saw what had happened and called the Fire Department. With the help of people from the town the ducks were rescued and taken back to their home in the park.

I really enjoyed reading this story. The illustrations were fantastic and really helped tell the story. The author included dialogue to represent what they thought the duck was saying. This was a really cute addition to the book and helped personify the characters that weren't human. Suspense was also another aspect of this story that was unique. The author made it so you had to continue reading in order to find out what happened next. I also liked how the author repeated the phrase, "That could have been the end of the story. But it wasn't, because..." throughout the story. Then at the end the author finally said, "And that is the end of the story".

This is a fantastic book to use in the classroom. You can use it for students in all grades. Since this book is based on a true story the teacher could find the news article from the day it happened. Students could read this article and take notes. They then can read the picture book and compare it to the informational text they had read. This book can also be used to teach students how to figure out unknown words using different reading strategies. The teacher can do this by covering up various words within the story and students have to determine what the words could be. Since the illustrations are so well done students could rely a lot on picture clues to help them.

Image References:
http://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Ducklings-Eva-Moore/dp/0439448611