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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 19 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 I'll pass on this book for my little guy. Nov 26, 2008
By Leah Maines
The Lucky Duck by Kathryn Weis deals with the harsh reality of nature's cruelty. The duck is lucky because it escapes the fox's dinner plate. The book does contain vivid art that will attract the child's attention, but the verse is awkward at times, and the subject matter is too intense for my young reader. I'll pass on this book for my little guy.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
aka Lame Duck Nov 29, 2008
By Collin Garbarino
Kathryn Weis's LUCKY DUCK tells the story of a duck who escapes from a fox and later saves another duck from the same fox. The book is written in rhyme and contains simple colorful pictures.
I simply can't recommend this book. The illustrations might appeal to some people, but I didn't find them to be charming or aesthetically pleasing. The story is a bit lame; it doesn't really have a resolution. The writing is this book's least appealing quality. The rhymes are often awkward and occasionally confusing. Even worse, the story starts out in the present tense but inexplicably shifts to the past tense halfway through the third page. Additionally, the story is written in the first person (from the duck's point-of-view), but on two occasions the narrative slips into the third person point-of-view. This sloppiness ruins any commendable features this book might contain.
Please don't buy this book, even if you really like stories about ducks and foxes. You'll be disappointed.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 The Lucky Duck Dec 19, 2008
By Anna M. Ligtenberg
"AnnaLovesBooks"
ISBN 1419697269 - I love books for kids. I think books for kids are the beginning of the answer to every question, ever. Learn to read and there's nothing, at all, in the entire world that you cannot do. It is, therefore, very difficult for me to 1 star any book for kids. I write this review based on a "proof" copy and can only hope that the product that hits shelves is better.
A duck saves a fox (sit down for this) when the fox, in attempting to eat the duck, begins to choke on the duck's feathers. The next day, the duck flies south. He returns home when it's warm again and spots the same fox about to eat another duck and chases him off. If, at any point, the story seems to you like it might go all "Aesop fable The Lion and the Mouse" on you, you'll get over that feeling real quick.
This book might, just possibly, be the "poster-book" for why self-publishing should not be open to everyone in the world. It is, literally, the worst book I've ever read - and I read anything. From the top: the illustrations appear homemade hackjobs, whipped up in Microsoft Paint (PSP, Photoshop, one of them); that doesn't have to be a bad thing, some skilled PSPers do great work, but this PSPer is not skilled. The images are, without question, vibrant. Kids love vibrant. But they're terrible. The illustrations are full-bleed, to the edge, every inch of every page - so, in order to make the black text visible on really vibrant images, there are some "text box" boxes. Those boxes look like someone took an eraser to the image and wiped out just enough space to fit the text. In other cases, the text is right over the image, which works sometimes, but not in all cases.
The text itself is in rhyme. The rhyme is clunky and doesn't flow - and sometimes doesn't rhyme (taught and flock, for example, don't rhyme). Most rhyming lines are together but, randomly, a pair will be separated by a blank line, for no reason. There are errors in spelling and grammar throughout, including several on the back cover. I am still baffled by the sentence that begins "She [the author] raised her three biological children and two Vietnamese brothers..." She raised her brothers? Or are they her children's brothers (making them her children, but why quibble)? Author Kathryn Weis has a list of her "other stories" on the back cover. These have, I assume, not yet been published. If they go into publication, I hope more time is spent on them and Weis brings in an illustrator and possibly an editor.
The text is not as simple as it ought to be for the 4-8 age group it claims to be aimed at and, worse, the story is (1) god-awful. As a global community that's moved on since the Brothers Grimm shoved children into ovens, it feels like the sort of story that will freak out a lot of parents. Is there a moral here? I don't see it, and without it, the story is just pointless. AND (2) all over the place. First, there's the fact that the duck is telling the story in the "first person" and then, without warning, he's not. Then he is again. Then he's not. That's just bad, bad writing. To add to that, it's a mystery to me why the trip south was necessary at all - the story was having a hard enough time flowing without sending half of the book's two characters south... for ONE PAGE! Not even close to worth the price.
- AnnaLovesBooks
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Cute Story Nov 26, 2008
By Michelle Alberigi McKenzie
"Owner McKenzie Bookworks"
This is a cute tale and I really wanted to love it but the rhythm of the rhyme is a bit off to my ear. (Could just be me.)
Hey, publisher, I found a typo: "I flew upon his fury back." I think that should read 'furry back.'
All that said, it's still a cute story with great illustrations!
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Regrettably, it's nothing special Nov 26, 2008
By Laurie
Despite bright, colorful illustration, this book is somewhat mediocre. Acknowledging that I had a "Proof" copy, I feel certain that errors will be corrected in final editing, but it's still lacking in attention-grabbing details that are necessary to hold the attention of young children. Frankly, I wouldn't pay $12.99 for this book.
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