Click, Clack, Peep!

January 12, 2015
After a lively baby duck is born on the farm, the animals from Click, Clack, Moo and its sequels try to turn its “peep peep peep” into “peep peep... sleep” at bedtime. Lewin’s always expressive watercolors show sleep-deprived hens and sheep rocking the duckling to sleep and knitting it a blanket, but it’s Duck who arrives at a solution that will be familiar to parents who have reached for their car keys in order to lull a restless baby to sleep. A sweet-natured addition to the series, and one that will leave readers giggling, thanks to a great closing gag. Ages 4–8. Agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties.

December 1, 2014
Poor Farmer Brown has a new animal to contend with, and this one is disrupting the whole barn!The farm is quiet. All of the animals are intently watching an egg, waiting for it to hatch. "Not a moo. / Not a click. / Not an oink. / Not a quack. // Not a baa. / Not a cluck. / Not a thing. / Then...a crack." Out pops Baby Duck! The little fuzzball waddles and plays and jumps and laughs. But the one thing Baby Duck does not do is sleep. Her incessant peep, peep, peeping is keeping the whole barnyard awake. (With bleary eyes and mouths stretched open wide in incredible yawns, Lewin's animals defy any reader not to do the same.) In a tried-and-true method of dealing with sleepless infants everywhere, Duck finally finds a way to lull Baby Duck to sleep-with the help of a tractor. Alas, the farm fence and crops don't fare as well. This author/illustrator duo rarely disappoints, but the rhythm stumbles a bit in its transitions, making this read-aloud not as seamless as others in the barnyard collection. Nevertheless, the familiar high jinks of this parental Duck and his farmyard companions will provoke plenty of giggles. (Picture book. 3-6)

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November 1, 2014

PreS-K-From the team responsible for such classic barnyard escapades as Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type (2000) and Giggle, Giggle, Quack (2002, both S. & S.) comes a new installment about the indomitable Duck. This time, he receives a very special package (the title page, recto, and verso show the arrival of the truck that delivers a crate with a duck egg inside). The entire farm quietly watches the momentous hatching. Soon, the egg cracks and a fuzzy yellow duckling emerges, breaking the silence with loud and insistent "Peep peep peeps." The increasingly exhausted animals take turns trying to calm the relentless Baby Duck, but nothing works, until Duck notices and pitches in. Giving tractor rides back and forth across the farm puts the little one to sleep, though in true Duck style, it wreaks havoc for the farmer. Lewin's characteristic watercolors are as funny and expressive as ever. Though not quite as involved as some of Duck's previous adventures, this is a delightful bedtime story for fans familiar with Duck and little ones who might be new to these wonderfully silly tales.-Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2014
Preschool-G If Farmer Brown thought Duck was trouble, just wait until Baby Duck arrives! Baby Duck hatches with a crack, crack, crack to a chorus of moo! baa! oink! The exuberant little thing is delighted and delightful as she laughs, waddles, and plays. But when the other animals begin to yawn (new parents will relate), the bright yellow critter simply will not sleep: peep, peep, peep. The text features a bouncy, playful rhythm and rhyme, setting a quick pace, while loose watercolors capture the comical antics. After the animals have tried everything they can think of to send Baby Duck to sleep, such as a lullaby and a cozy blanket (the sheep knit one), Duck comes up with a planeffective, if a bit destructive. All's quiet in the barnyard . . . until Farmer Brown wakes up, that is! An irresistible addition to the Click, Clack, Moo series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)