Captain Duck (Duck in the Truck) by Jez Alborough
| Captain Duck (Duck in the Truck) by Jez Alborough | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Magda Healey
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| Summary: Another story featuring irrepressible Duck in a Truck, full of mayhem and adventure. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 40 | Date: September 2009 |
| Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books | |
| ISBN: 978-0007302901 | |
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Duck runs out of petrol in his truck. Luckily, Goat's house is nearby and Goat uses petrol in his boat! Duck 'borrows' the can of petrol and trots off to fill his truck when the appearance of Frog distracts his attention. Frog and Sheep are ready to go on a boat trip with Goat! As Goat pops back to get something from his shed, Duck jumps in, un-moors the boat and off they go, along the river and into the stormy sea: and then the boat runs out of fuel! Will Goat save them? Or will the tide bring them back? And what about the truck that Duck abandoned for his maritime adventure?
You can see why the Duck in a Truck quickly became the most successful creation of Jez Alborough. His larger-than-life, impulsive personality has an uncanny resemblance to a toddler's while Alborough's artwork catches the eye and the imagination.
Captain Duck is a great story, with a hint of real adventure and danger and the anti-hero Duck perfect for little children to relate to, marvel at and recognise naughtiness in.
My edition is a fairly large format paperback, which does justice to Jez Alborough's illustrations even when there are several panels on a page. The illustrations are vivid, colourful and incredibly dynamic. As in other books by the same author, the faces of all the animal characters are very expressive, with all the emotions clearly showing and identifiable.
There is more text that in many other books by Jez Alborough, and the simple rhyme scans and flows reasonably well most of the time, making the whole even more dynamic, although occasionally clarity has been sacrificed for the rhyme.
The story is a little bit more complicated than some other Alborough picture books (with the whole concept of running out of petrol on which the plot – doubly – hinges) and thus makes Captain Duck perhaps more suitable for pre-schoolers than toddlers.
It's a worthy addition to the series and recommended for preschool children, particularly those interested in vehicles of all kinds. I can't wait for a Duck on a train!
Thanks to the publishers for sending this book to the BookBag.
If you're looking for more books involving vehicles we can recommend Jack's Tractor by Thomas Taylor and The Flying Diggers by Ian Whybrow and David Melling.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Captain Duck (Duck in the Truck) by Jez Alborough at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Captain Duck (Duck in the Truck) by Jez Alborough at Amazon.com.
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