Lost and Found Ducklings

PreS-Gr 1–When Brother Duck and Sister Duck receive a package containing nets, they take off into the woods to "catch things." Despite Mama Duck's advice to stay close to home and Papa Duck's warnings about getting lost, the siblings wander too far and are unable to find their way. Ms. Owl hears their distressed "Peep! Peep! Peep!" and summons the forest animals for help. But neither Mr. Moose's "earthshaking bellow," Ms. Wolf''s "piercing howl," Ms. Fox's "shrill scream," nor Mr. Bear's "fierce growl" brings Mama and Papa. Finally, all the animals cry out together, the forest becomes "a very noisy place," and the parents come running. Stating it wasn't the individual animals' summonses nor the combination of their deafening cries but rather the "sweet peep-peep-peep of [their] dear little ducklings" that alerted them, Mama and Papa take their little ones home. Gorbachev's cartoon illustrations created with watercolors, gouache, and his signature inked crosshatchings, depict clothed forest animals who surround the ducklings as they cry on a tree stump. Large letters splash the animals' collective sounds across the page above the ducklings' tiny peeps.