Little White Duck

Children have sung this silly song written by Walt Whippo and Bernard Zaritzky for half a century. Performers from Burl Ives to Danny Kaye to Raffi have recorded it over the years. And now, for the first time, the classic sing-along song about the duck that "quack, quack, quacks," the frog that "glug, glug, glugs," and the bug that "bzz, buzz, bzz's" has made its way into picture-book format. Joan Paley's gorgeous collages are full of vivacious color and three-dimensional pizzazz. Bold, brilliant greens and blues dominate, drawing the reader deeper and deeper into the happy little world of these water critters--happy, that is, until the little red snake comes along and scares off the duck and frog and eats the bug! But he's still glad to be "a little red snake playing in the water," so all's well that ends well. To soften the blow of the untimely demise of the little black bug, all four of the characters (duck, frog, bug, snake), plus the guitar-strumming mouse narrator, take a bow on the last page, so sensitive young readers will know it's all just play-acting. Musical notation is included. (Ages 2 to 7) --Emilie Coulter