Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld

Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld
Buy Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Keith Dudhnath
Summary: Is it a duck? Is it a rabbit? Is it Superman? (No, it's either a duck or a rabbit). A fun and quirky picture book that introduces children to a gentle optical illusion. Highly recommended. Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld were kind enough to be interviewed by Bookbag.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 40	Date: May 2009
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 978-0811868655
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Is it a duck? Is it a rabbit? Bill or ears? Take a look at the front cover and decide for yourself. Which is it? Duck? Rabbit? Duck! Rabbit! takes a simple optical illusion and weaves a story around it. Two people are debating whether it's a duck or a rabbit - is it drinking from water or cooling off its ears? It looks like a rabbit to me, but then I haven't seen many rabbits with quacking ears. Then again, if it's a duck, why would it have a carrot at the back of its head?

The core idea of Duck! Rabbit! is fantastic. It's elegantly executed. Even the youngest of children will be in on the joke, rather than confuddled. It's fiendishly clever, yet brilliantly simple. I fell in love with the book from the front cover, and despite (or rather because of) the repetition, I loved it throughout.

With such a minimalist idea, story and presentation, you might almost be forgiven for wondering what author Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrator Tom Lichtenheld had to do once they'd done the first page. "Everything right" is the answer to that, which is exactly what they did. A couple more visual jokes on the last page and back cover are the icing on the cake. Highly recommended.

You can see further examples of their work at WhoIsAmy.wordpress.com and TomLichtenheld.com. As well as the usual information, Tom's website has a few printable activity guides that you might enjoy.

Huge thanks to the publishers for sending it to Bookbag.

My Animals by Xavier Deneux is another picture book that gently tweaks people's perception. If ducks and rabbits are your thing, then look no further than Two by Two and a Half by David Melling.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld were kind enough to be interviewed by Bookbag.

Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld is in the Bookbag's Easter Eggs.

Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld is in the Bookbag's Christmas Gift Recommendations 2009.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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