Duck on a Tractor

Narrator Walter Mayes appreciates the unusual life of Duck--who once rode a bike and now drives a tractor, sharing the fun with all the other farm animals. When Duck figures out how to turn "the shiny piece of metal," the tractor picks up passengers and heads to town. Mayes brings everything possible to his narration--speed and shrieks, drawls and sputters, squawks and surprises, wobbles and exclamations. As each animal hops aboard the bus, it has both something to say and an unspoken thought. The cow thinks the bus "sure beats walking," and the goats wonders if the dump has a drive-up window. Twangy upbeat music accompanies the story. A.R. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

June 20, 2016
The star of 2002’s Duck on a Bike decides that the tractor is next on his transportation bucket list, and he invites all of his barnyard friends to join his joyride. When the motorized pile-on reaches the local diner, the humans lunching there are flabbergasted. The exuberant physicality of Shannon’s characterizations is always a treat, but he’s not entirely successful in surmounting the challenges of his premise. He uses some imaginative framings to bring the animals onto the tractor (Goat climbs up one of the giant tires, Horse sprawls across the hood), but the compositions end up unfocused. He also brings back the refrain-like motif from Duck on a Bike, in which his characters say one thing and think another. But that same motif is given to all the awestruck humans as well, causing the story to drag a bit (although the guy who says, “I must be seeing things,” while thinking “Oh, no—not again!” must have quite the backstory). The funny ending, involving an empty gas tank, leaves the humans concluding that the vision was all an illusion. Ages 4–8.