A Good Day for Ducks

Rain is pouring, rain is falling—the perfect day for two playful, young puddle jumpers to spend outdoors. In this short story, two children put on their rainy day gear and walk to a pond where they find ducks swimming and worms squirming in puddles nearby. Once lightning flashes and thunder crashes, it’s time to hurry home. They change into cozy pajamas and create artwork depicting the memorable things they saw on that rainy day excursion.

A Good Day for Ducks would make for a good bedtime story as it does not contain any sort of strong plot or exciting events. However, the basic storyline is likely relatable to the intended young audience.

The author selected basic sight words and includes lots of repetition throughout the story, making the book suitable for beginning readers. Children would likely pick up the vocabulary quickly after hearing it read aloud several times. Also adding to the ease of the text is that there are very few words on each page and the font is large.

Illustrator Noel Tuazon’s full-page watercolour pictures (a clever choice of medium, given that the story is about a rainy day) enhanced the story. Images outlined in black allowed for clarity and some added details.

The title of this book, A Good Day for Ducks, comes from a common phrase meaning that it is a wet, rainy day, one only fit for ducks. Ducks are only briefly mentioned on one page and do not have any more significance than other parts of the story. The children simply observe them and carry on. Based on the story title and images of ducks on the book’s endpapers, one might expect that they would have had a stronger presence in the storyline.

A Good Day for Ducks’s padded cover, rounded corners and heavier weight paper make it an excellent bridge book for those transitioning from board books to picture books.