Duck, Duck, Porcupine! by Salina Yoon

Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781619637245
(Age: 4-8) Beginning readers.This new series is similar to the Elephant and Piggie books. It is comprised of crisp, simple, full-page illustrations with bold outlining and page borders. It contains no narration, mostly speech bubbles and some sounds and environmental text. The small amount of large, bold text on each page makes it perfect for beginning readers. There are some visual clues to help young readers and it uses mostly high frequency and phonetic words. Duck, Duck, Porcupine! includes three short stories, each featuring Big Duck, Little Duck and Porcupine. Big Duck is organised, bossy and knows just about everything. Porcupine is a great friend who will go along with just about anything. Little Duck cannot talk yet but he thinks outside the box and is very clever. The three characters are all incredibly lovable. In the first story the friends go out for a picnic but it starts raining. Big Duck and Porcupine are disappointed that their picnic is ruined but Little Duck shows them how to have fun in spite of the wet weather. In the second story Big Duck knows she has forgotten something and Little Duck is trying ever so hard to tell her what it is. In the last story the friends decide to go camping. While Big Duck and Porcupine are still busy gathering the 100 necessary camping items Little Duck is already having fun camping! This is an engaging text for young children with pictures that help tell the story and beautifully illustrate the nuances of the three friends. Simple illustrations, a restrained colour palette and minimal background detail will help to keep young readers focused on the text and the expressions and actions of the characters. The characters are endearing and both children and adults will enjoy their humourous adventures.
Nicole Nelson