BY: Gayle Jacobson-Huset
Assistant Editor Stories for Children Magazine
BOOK: The Duck in the Hole
BY: Mary Vigliante Szydlowski
PUBLISHED BY:
Operation Outreach USA Press
ISBN:
978-0-9792144-1-7
READING LEVEL: 7-9 First Grade; Second Grade Early Readers
Six-year old Keesha is out playing when she
hears a duck quacking. She looks around,
and discovers that a little brown duck has fallen down a hole. Her arms are too short to reach down into the
hole and rescue the duck, so Keesha has to think of how she can rescue the duck
by using other ideas.
She tries various methods. Nothing seems to
work. She puts on her "thinking
cap" and tries harder to come up with more rescue ideas. She finally comes up with an idea that just
might work. Can the duck be saved? Will
Keesha's idea work?
Author Mary Vigliante Szydlowski wrote this book in simple, straightforward text every word was carefully chosen, and it shows in the ease of readability. This story teaches a young child a new way to look at how to solve a problem, and gain some self-esteem by being able to come up with a workable solution. It is one of those quiet, really solid books that I would highly recommend to any parent to have their children read.
I'm also impressed with the quality of the
illustrations by Lori Kiplinger Pandy and the book itself. Operation Outreach publishes books that will
be given away in elementary and middle schools to at-risk children all across
the country. Their philosophy of
" if they own the book, they will develop
a love of reading,"
seems to be working.