The book begins with a young girl, Abby, who is determined to take home the class pet at her school. She works hard in order to prepare for the class pet, which is a duck named Max. But Abby later finds out that her neighbor, that is a boy in her class, Noah, also wants to take home Max. Abby explains how Noah is irresponsible and does not know how to take care of others. The teacher chooses Abby to take care of Max and she is excited to take him home. The day takes a turn when Max waddles away to the park and goes in the pond. Abby has to rescue him from the pond, but needs the help of her neighbor Noah. Noah turns out to be a kind and very responsible person. The central message of this book is to never judge people by their actions because you don’t know someone until you interact with them. ( )

Abby goes to great, entertaining lengths to have the opportunity to care for the class duck at home. ( )

adorable ( )

I'm always looking for more beginning chapter books, but this one was a disappointment. The basic plot sounded good; Abby's parents won't let her have any kind of pet, so she's super thrilled when her new teacher has a duck for a class pet and says the kids can take it home! However, the annoying boy next door, weird Noah, also wants to take Max home for the night.

The illustrations are ok, I'm not a fan of the spaghetti-limbs style of illustration, but kids won't really care.

What didn't work for me in this book was the over the top, eccentric adult characters. Abby (rules-oriented, a bit prissy) worked fine. Noah (untidy, a little kooky) was good. Abby's teacher, Mrs. Melvino, is one of those...eccentric teachers. That only exist in books. They always have "wild, curly hair" they write in colored pen (usually purple) and have kooky glasses. They dress in eccentric clothes.

Newsflash, authors! Teachers do NOT behave or dress like this. No teachers that I've ever met, anyways, and I've met pretty much every teacher in our three elementary schools and lots of student teachers when I was at school. Student teachers might be a bit more casual, but I think you've gotten teachers mixed up with children's librarians. Some of us can be a bit kooky, yes. But I think a school principal would look askance at a teacher who lets a duck decide her class schedule.

Now, this is an Australian import, so maybe education is a bit different over there, but I think it's unlikely. I also found Mrs. Melvino's increasing demands for Max the duck weird. It was like she was behaving like a child. I also was annoyed to see that the author picked up the tired old "parents who are so obsessively neat they can't stand an animal of any kind".

Verdict: While I didn't like the adult characters in this book, the plot is just different enough to grab kids' attention and the children are well-drawn characters. I think I'll put this one down as a maybe.

ISBN: 9780763657840; Published 2012 by Candlewick; Borrowed from the library; Added to the library's wishlist.

Duck for a Day tells the story of Abby and Noah, two classmates who long to have a turn housing the class pet, Max, for a day. Abby’s parents are exceptionally clean and tidy and cannot bear the hassle of pets, but they’ll let Abby mind the class pet… if she can fulfil her teacher, Mrs Melvino’s, growing demands for a pet friendly yard. Meanwhile, Noah, who lives next door, would also like to mind Max, and with his untidy yard and boisterous sisters, who knows if he will ever be able to provide a duck friendly environment…?

Duck for a Day is unbelievably predictable in the same way that genuinely good chicklit or rom-coms are predictable; it does not detract from the plot and, for a child reader, having the satisfaction of successfully predicting the conclusion would surely be an affirming and encouraging experience.

Leila Rudge’s illustrations are sweet, simple and complement the story whilst breaking up the text. In the 96 page book there are over 60 illustrations making the text more manageable for less motivated readers.

There is an impressive balance between control and creativity, order and chaos, knowledge and intuition woven amongst the action of Duck for a Day. Pariticularly charming is Noah’s unruly family, his four crazy sisters and messy backyard. The highlight of the sotry is Abby’s growing appreciation of Noah. Duck for a Day is a feel good book with a feel good ending.