Book Description
for Giggle, Giggle, Quack by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
When Farmer Brown sets out on vacation, he leaves his brother Bob in charge of his farm with the parting words, “I wrote everything down for you. Just follow my instructions and everything will be fine. But keep an eye on Duck. He’s trouble.” As Farmer Brown’s car heads down the lane, Duck, with a gleam in his eye, spies a pencil in the dirt. The first note that Bob reads informs him “Tuesday night is pizza night (not the frozen kind!).” Furthermore, “The hens prefer anchovies.” Meanwhile, as Duck and the hens observe Bob through an open window, they let loose a “Giggle, giggle, cluck.” Bob knows how to follow instructions, and “Twenty-nine minutes later there was hot pizza in the barn.” As the week progresses, Bob diligently obeys the penciled notes he finds about the house, giving the pigs a bubble bath and drying them off with the monogrammed “good towels” (“Giggle, giggle, oink”), and popping corn as the cows settle themselves in the living room for movie night (“Giggle, giggle, moo”). Only a routine telephone call from the vacationing Farmer Brown puts an end to the animals’ week of high living. The expressions on the animals’ faces as Duck successfully pulls the wool over Bob’s eyes – a hen smothers a giggle beneath her wing, while two cows share a smirk of delight -- invite children to share the joke in this amusing tale of good-natured trickery. (Ages 4-7)
CCBC Choices 2003 . © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2003. Used with permission.