Duck, Apple, Egg

Duck, Apple, Egg by Glenda Millard, Martina Heiduczek (ABC Books) HB RRP 9780733340185

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Here is a new picture book for the very young from multi-award-winning author Glenda Millard who is known for her Tiskin Silk book series beautifully illustrated here by Martina Heiduczek who also illustrated the covers of the Silk books.

Duck, Apple, Egg has a minimum, poetic text which begins “Duck on the green, sun in the sky, egg in the nest,’ and moves on to the next page to ‘apple on the tree, and me.’

Basically, the book is a simple story about the joys of playing in a garden with a small child dressed in red and blue who observes (and embraces) nature about him. Thus, you see the child hugging the duck, finding a nest, eating an apple, splashing with duck in a pond, and, in the final illustration, eating an apple pie and laying with the duck.

The words ‘duck’, egg’ and ‘apple’ are repeated throughout the book so they could be easily memorised by a small child being read the story by a parent or teacher.

The illustrations are lush with lots of grass and wonderful fly pages in pale blue featuring duck, eggs, apples and flowers.

Muddle and Mo

Muddle and Mo by Nikki Slade Robinson (Starfish Bay Children’s Books)

HB RRP $25.99

ISBN 9780994100757

PB RRP $14.99

ISBN 9780994100740

Reviewed by Leigh Owen

Sometimes simple is beautiful. This is the case with the picture book Muddle and Mo.

In fewer than one hundred words author/illustrator Nikki Slade Robinson tells a tale of Muddle, the duck trying to understand what he is and why his friend Mo is so odd.  Your beak is too hairy…. You should eat worms.

In fact, Mo is a goat and Muddle is a duck, which of course, children will know right from the start but following Muddle as he puzzles over their identities is the fun of the story.

The illustrations mainly consist of just the two stylised animals in various comical poses on a textured brown background. The simplicity is charming and somehow comforting

I imagine children will soon be memorising this book and reading aloud to themselves. This is enabled, not only by the sparse story and illustrations but also the large clear text and the use of different fonts for the speech of Muddle and the speech of Mo. As a reader I enjoyed coming up with voices for the two characters; the energetic duck and the more lay-back goat.

Muddle and Mo is a delightful book begging to be read aloud to 2-6 year olds.