Two Duck, Duck, Porcupine titles by Salina Yoon

Today's guest contributor, Robbin Friedman, is a children's librarian at the Chappaqua Library. She writes reviews for School Library Journal, serves on ALSC's Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media committee and will soon begin as a member of the 2019 Newbery Committee.
 

Bold black lines paired with kicky consonants bring an emphatic joy to Salina Yoon's Duck, Duck, Porcupine!, an early reader packed with kid appeal. Two follow-up books, My Kite Is Stuck! And Other Stories and That's My Book! And Other Stories, adhere to the same formula of three short episodes, each featuring Big Duck, Little Duck, and Porcupine as they navigate life's tiny hurdles.

Fans of the first book, or of Mo Willems, will recognize the dialogue-only text in addition to the character dynamics, as Big Duck bumbles and Little Duck saves the day. The animals' simple outlines and bright colors match the energy of their speech, rife with exclamation marks. Each character's defining accessory, while unnecessary for distinguishing a white duck, a yellow duck, and a purple porcupine from each other, provide their own levity--the kind of joy that can only come from a weird-looking animal in a bow tie. Yoon adds a mild metafictive element as Little Duck throws deadpan looks of incredulity out to the reader, in response to Big Duck's foolishness. These visual charms carry the books, which have less distinguished text which likely precludes these titles from Geisel contention.

The visual elements of the text work well, with a clear and well-spaced font against all-white speech bubbles. The line breaks mostly come in logical places, allowing for a fluid reading experience, though the confines of speech bubbles do force a few strange breaks. Repetition and alliteration help readers make their way through the dialogue, though some of the vocabulary -- 'customers,' 'showstopper,' 'operate' -- is both unduly challenging and unsupported in the text.

Pairing a bumptious character (Big Duck) with a quieter, savvier one (Little Duck) is not an original premise, though the gentle Porcupine does add a twist to this popular dynamic, which will appeal to young readers either way. Common plotlines, such as discovering your talent or starting a lemonade stand, contrast with more unlikely stories, as in one episode which becomes a mashup of playing hospital and pirate. One of the most amusing chapters, the title story from My Kite Is Stuck, plays out as a less-surreal version of Oliver Jeffers' book Stuck. The well-worn tropes may not provide a page-turning quality by themselves, but Yoon's charming characters will propel many readers through the books. This vibrant trio undoubtedly has a future on the early reader shelves, but probably not at the awards announcement, at least not this year.