Where’s Mr Duck? by Ingela P. Arrhenius
Published by Nosy Crow/Allen & Unwin
Date: 4 March 2019
R.R.P. $12.99
Nosy Crow continue to delight young readers (and the adult reading it) with their very beautiful and educational board books. Where’s Mr Duck? is simple but effective, with its lovely shades of greens, pinks, yellows, blues and oranges. The images and shades of colour have a vintage look about them, and make the illustrations easily recognisable for babies and toddlers.
Babies love a game of peek-a-boo and this is essentially what this book is about. The lift the flaps are in a gentle felt which engage the children’s sense of touch, and then when lifted an element of surprise. The book offers even more for babies and toddlers, including recognition of different animals – their sounds and how they look, and learning about themselves with the mirror under the last flap – pointing to their nose, eyes and mouth.
I like that Where’s Mr Duck doesn’t focus on your “typical” animals for books like cat, dog, sheet and cow. The animals used in this book are snail, worm, butterfly, frog and duck and bee – not all of these are under the flaps. While they might not all have recognisable noises, we can talk about how slimy a worm might be or how a butterfly might flap their wings.
This board book is one I recommend and know that I will be using for any babytime sessions I do this year.
Thank you Nosy Crow/Allen & Unwin for the opportunity to read and honestly review this book.
Little Big Reads 