Pip Sits

February 15, 2017
A playful porcupine kit ends up having ducklings imprint on him after their mother asks him to sit on her clutch of eggs.At first it's not Pip who sits but his mother. While she contentedly reads her book beneath a tree, "Pip goes up. He jumps. He plops. He peeks," and accompanying vignettes show the little overalls-clad porcupine frolicking across the double-page spread. His activities come to a halt when a rather feckless Mother Duck takes a page from Dr. Seuss' Mayzie and leaves Pip to sit on her eggs. And, like Horton before him, sit Pip does until the eggs hatch and the ducklings emerge, all calling him Mama. Firmly imprinted on Pip, they initially reject Mother Duck when she returns, until she leads them to the water to swim. At this point, Pip (who does not like water) misses his mother, and her arrival by Pip's side creates a happy ending for ducks and porcupines alike. Morgan's accompanying watercolor, gouache, and colored-pencil illustrations provide good support to help emergent readers decode the controlled text, and there's a good balance of white space on some spreads to give rest to the eyes. A good book for hatching new readers. (Early reader. 5-7)

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March 1, 2017

PreS-Gr 1-Morgan tells a simple tale of a young porcupine named Pip who sits on a nest of eggs. As the clutch of ducklings hatch, they think that young Pip is their mother and follow him around. Using an easy-to-read format with a large font and short sentences, the text and picture clues are just right for newbie readers. Although Pip looks like a "fluffy" porcupine with quills that are more curved than sharp and spiky, the colorful illustrations are endearing. Morgan makes good use of an uncluttered background of white space. There is nothing new in the plot here, and the minimal text and judicious repetition evoke P.D. Eastman's Are You My Mother? and its ilk. VERDICT A good choice for fledgling readers to try their wings.-Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA

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