Duckworth, the Difficult Child

March 18, 2019
Duckworth has a problem: a scarlet serpent as big as a minivan is coiled in his closet, and his parents, immersed in their new copy of Dealing with Your Difficult Child, are unconcerned. Then the snake swallows Duckworth—neatly, so that he can still hold a conversation. They remain unimpressed. “Where did you find that snake costume?” his father asks. After his parents share a game of checkers, a dinner, and a stroll with the snake, it’s clear that Duckworth must save himself. He does, handily, and the snake exits without a fuss. Sardà (Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein) creates an elegantly chilly atmosphere for Duckworth’s Treehorn Trilogy–esque drawing room comedy. His parents’ on-trend décor provides a perfect foil for the beast’s primal energy; the house is all plinths and angles, while the snake forms a tangle of graceful, undulating curves. Sussman (Otto Grows Down) makes the most of the rib-tickling contrast between mortal danger and proper manners: “It’s not a snake costume!” shouts Duckworth from inside the snake, his words rendered in tiny type to suggest muffled cries. At the end, though, Duckworth’s still stuck with his parents, prompting not a laugh, but a whiff of dread. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Stephanie Fretwell-Hill, Red Fox Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House.

April 1, 2019
The difference between a snake and a snake costume is pretty big. Duckworth is a human boy who wears knickers and stockings and whose hairstyle can only be described as a comb-forward. He's playing contentedly in his room when a massive, orange-patterned snake slithers out of the closet. Duckworth goes downstairs and informs his parents, but Mother and Father are busy reading a book called Dealing with Your Difficult Child. They consider the snake a figment of Duckworth's imagination--and even when the snake swallows Duckworth and comes downstairs, they insist it's merely Duckworth wearing a snake costume. Duckworth, intact and articulate inside the snake, explains the situation, but his parents cleave to the parenting book's philosophy that Duckworth's "fantasies will go away if we ignore them." As the snake sits at the dinner table, Duckworth's bodily outline can be seen inside the snake's midsection, far away from the table. The family has no meeting of the minds. Eventually, Duckworth extricates himself from the snake--none the worse for wear--and considers seeking a book about dealing with difficult parents. Sardà's illustrations blend a gothic sensibility with an art deco style, highlighting geometrical patterns, sharp angles, and a lot of orange and gray. People's skin color comes from the flat white background paper. Unlike Maurice Sendak's Pierre, Duckworth has no lesson to learn; readers can decide for themselves whether he's highly imaginative or merely unflappable when swallowed. (Picture book. 4-7)

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