Love Is

January 15, 2017
A cute-as-a-button moppet adopts, raises, and loves a lost little duckling.Keane's digital illustrations have the loose, line-and-wash, mid-20th-century look of Marc Simont or Hilary Knight, with the exception of their central character, a thoroughly modern brown-skinned girl with two black pom-pom pigtails. When the little, yellow duckling follows a butterfly out of the park, the protagonist finds it and brings it to her well-appointed row house (where she apparently lives alone, as there's no sign of an adult anywhere). She nurtures it through night feedings, plays with it inside, and, recognizing it's time to say goodbye, takes it back to the park, where it swims away. It's a 32-page expansion of the old poster platitude, "If you love something, let it go," and (spoiler alert) the duckling does indeed come back the following spring, now grown and with a brood of its own. Unfortunately, the text is simply a series of soppy, frequently nonsensical "Love is" statements entirely in line with the platitude. "Love is holding something fragile, tiny wings and downy head. / Love is noisy midnight feedings, shoe box right beside the bed." Having evidently decided to sacrifice sense to scansion and rhyme, Adams mystifyingly and periodically abandons that scansion, but never does she let go of the treacly sentiment. The charming illustrations mark Keane as one to watch, with her admirable command of line, composition, and narrative possibility. A pretty, hardcover greeting card. (Picture book. 3-5)

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March 1, 2017

PreS-Gr 2-A little girl finds a duckling who has wandered away from the park onto the city streets. She takes the baby home to raise. Her new charge requires constant attention-early morning feedings, bathing, and tidying-until the time comes to say goodbye. Realizing that her pet has grown too big for the bath, the girl takes the full-grown duck back to the pond to rejoin its family. Afterward, she misses it and wonders if it remembers her. One day, the duck comes back-with six ducklings of her own. "And love is also watching, waving,/wondering if love remembers you,/and knowing in a happy instant,/that love has lasted.../...and grown some, too." A love poem, an ode to motherhood, this sweet and touching book will speak to children who have or want a pet, as well as to their parents. The illustrations, rendered in Photoshop against a white background, reflect and enrich the text by adding humor: the wide-eyed girl cradling her pillow over her ears to drown out the midnight quacks; frantically chasing the duckling with a towel, bathwater overturned; or hands on hips, with dustpan and brush in front of a mound of sunflower seeds. The endpapers feature pale yellow duckies along with other elements from the story, such as a tub, a tree, a bag of seed, etc. VERDICT A tender choice for sharing with children and parents, especially on Valentine's Day.-Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools

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