Duck’s New Words Juliette MacIver Carla Martell

Duck’s New Words Juliette MacIver Carla Martell Title: Duck’s New Words. Author: Juliette MacIver. Scholastic (2025) 24 pages, Paperback. ISBN 978 1 77543 916 5

Duck’s New Words: ‘Duck’s a duck and sure of that But Duck is also quite the cat!’ Raised by a hospitable mother cat, Duck (a little yellow duckling) has a singularly feline view of life celebrated in the earlier picture books, Duck Goes Meow and How to Be a Cat. Now Juliette McIver’s clever verses stop Duck playing with balls of wool and send him off exploring the farmyard. As Duck meets new animals, he finds brand new words to try out. ‘OINK! Says Duck and Pig’s impressed.’ Horse is thrilled when Duck says, ‘Neigh!’. Duck has a linguistic problem, however, when he meets four ducks in a pond They say, ‘Quack.’ And Duck thinks, ’What on earth was that?’ What follows is hilarious as Duck fails to quack but succeeds in teaching the ducks to say words like ‘MEOW! And OINK!. Before long there is a complete foreign language school running in the farmyard. Duck, of course, has the last word. ‘Purr.’ As always, Juliette MacIver’s verse has perfect rhythms, which make it a delight to read aloud. Carla Martell’s bold, colourful illustrations include large speech balloons for the animal noises – an invitation for young readers to join in. This is a perfect book to read (or quack) aloud. Trevor Agnew, 29 Sep 2025 (Review 3804)