Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Have You Ever Seen A Duck in A Raincoat?


Kaner, Etta. 2009. Have You Ever Seen a Duck In a Raincoat. Kids Can Press.

Are you curious about animals? Are you always asking questions? Then maybe just maybe this book is for you. The book features a boy and girl asking questions--some of which seem silly--about animals. Questions include "Have you ever seen a duck in a raincoat?", "Have you ever seen a jackrabbit in shorts?", "Have you ever seen a whale in a parka?", etc. There are seven question and answers included in this book. (Though this book appears to be one in a series of books.)

I said the questions seem silly. But really, when you're curious, you're curious. And I admit--to this day even--asking some seemingly bizarre or silly questions of my parents. The book is about how humans and animals are different.

The text is informative and straightforward. No problems there.

Though you can't tell from the cover, Have You Ever Seen a Duck In A Raincoat features some of the worst illustrations I've ever seen in a book--published by a real publisher at least. It's not that the illustrator can't draw animals--he can; he does. It's that his human characters--this boy and girl--are so poorly drawn. (That's not even including the embarrassing shot of a grown boy riding a tricycle.)



© Becky Laney of Young Readers

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