Duck, Duck by Edna Miller

This is a medium book. I feel lukewarm about it. There is no reason to dislike it, but there is also no real reason to love it. I liked the cover though.

And the illustrations are fair to middlin'! 

I love that downy nest! That is Duck Duck's mate. Look closely because that is the last time you will see her. 

Things have gone awry in Duck Duck's life. Where is his mate and the eggs? 

An ominously feathery fox. These things happen in life. 

After frantic searching, Duck Duck goes back to the next to find two hatched eggs that were not ruined. Duck Duck has his hands full raising two ducklings. 

In the fall of the year, Duck Duck watches his grown up ducklings take off. First his mate is eaten, now his offspring leave him behind. Because Duck Duck needs to stick around in case his mate was just lost. 

Some children offer Duck Duck food, which he is not too proud to accept. 

Life gets harder. His wife is dead, which he can't accept, his children have left him, and now he can't find food. Can this duck never catch a break?!

He waddles to the farm nearby where there is warmth and food aplenty. 

This would qualify as catching a break. 

Especially when the children are so eager to feed Duck Duck. 

And here, at the end of Duck Duck's tale, we see him putting the moves on a wooden decoy mallard hen. Duck Duck gets so irate at her ignoring him that he pitches a fit. His fit attracts a real live mallard hen, who clearly likes passionate men. 

They glide off into the sunset together. We assume they live happily ever after. 

See what I mean about this book? Bad things happen to Duck Duck. It was nice two of his babies lived, but they seemed to be more of a burden to a mateless male than a joy. This is probably a very realistic book, but after the personification we normally see in stories about ducks, we would expect a little more from Duck Duck. I mean check out that last page. 

Duck Duck barely turned his head to look at her. But as he paddled on serenely he knew that a new mate had come to him. 

Really? That is your happily ever after? Couldn't you be excited, Duck Duck? Couldn't you have turned your head and acknowledged her as a duck? 

Sigh. Even ducks are sexists.