Fluffy and Baron

by Laura Rankin

"One summer day, someone new waddled into Baron’s life. Her name was Fluffy." So begins the adorable tale of a dog, a duck, and a perfect companionship. Perfect, that is, until Fluffy joins up with the wild ducks from the pond. Baron is suddenly alone—no one to play with, eat with, or cuddle up with at night. But when those wild ducks fly away, Baron’s in for a surprise—and more friends than he ever expected!

Genres: Picture Books, Friendship, Animals, Childrens, Dogs, Love, Storytime

32 pages, Hardcover

First published June 8, 2006

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

So cute! Nothing really spectacular here but I love that this is a true story about best friends--a duck and a dog! The illustrations are heartwarming, especially the final one. What can I say, I'm a sucker for cute animal stories! :-)

[Jeanette Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful story. It's always amazing to see different kinds of animals have friendships.

[Ramanda Flannery · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really cute little book! It's about an unconventional friendship between a dog(Baron) and a duckling(Fluffy). The dog seems to be frusterated by the ducklings presence at first, but then grows to love the duckling. When summer rolls around again and the duckling is grown some new ducks show up at the pond and Fluffy starts spending all her time with them. Baron becomes sad as he watches them play. Once the new ducks leave Baron gets excited that he is going to have his friend back, but she makes a nest and lays eggs so she has to lay on them. When the eggs hatch Fluffy wants Baron to meet them first. Everyone is happy again!
I think this is a good book for kids to read. I think it has a good message within the story, it tells kids that all good things will come in time. It also tells children that they need to be patient and that they can't have everything they want exactly when they want it.

[Nausheen Ukani]

What a wonderful story to introduce students to diversity and friendship! I loved reading this book to my students because it showed friendship and diversity from a different perspective, through the friendship between a dog and duck. It can be used to teach about diversity and how being friends with those who are different from you or don't look the same as you is okay. The illustrations are also consistent and enjoyable for students to follow along with. For literacy, I could even use this book to teach a sequence of events and discuss the beginning/middle/end of a story. This book can even be used to discuss problem-solution. I would definitely have this book as a resource in the classroom.

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gem of a story I discovered at a library sale! Beautiful illustrations, sweet tale of unlikely animal friends! Based on the author/illustrator real life experience. Highly recommend to parents for critter crazy kiddos, or in my case, critter crazy grandkiddos! Also great for
teachers for a classroom library or reading corner preschool, kindergarten, and other beginning readers.

Fluffy and Baron
Laura Rankin

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes me cry happy tears.

[Gretchen Oates · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story based on a real story.

[Anthony W · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book portays friendship in an interesting way for the reader. It involves true friendship and teaches the reader about life lessons of friendship, and makes the reminder that looks mean nothing.

This is a meaningful story but the colorful illustrations add to the message. In the story the friendship is between to animals that you think could not have anything to do with eachother, a dog and a duck. The message is showing childern that diversity is ok, different looks shouldn't keep you away from building a good relationship with someone. Along with using two different animals the author depicts friendship throughout many stages of a life.

[Marissa J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book about true friends teaches the reader about the life lesson of friendship and the idea that two people can be friends even though they look nothing alike.

The colorful illustrations throughout this book certainly add to the affect of this short story. The friendship portrayed between two copmletely different animals, a dog and a duck, teach the reader about diversity among friends and that it is okay to be freinds with someon who looks different from yourself. The author also depicts a freindhip throught many stages of life in this beautiful story.

[Alma Loredo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baron, a dog, had trouble coping with Fluffy, a duck. Baron and Fluffy eventually became friends and did everything together. When the spring arrived, Fluffy saw others that were like her. She started spending time with them and Baron missed her. Eventually it was time for the wild ducks to fly off and Fluffy went back home with Baron. Fluffy had her own duckling and they lived like a big family. This book can be used for a student that may have a hard time coping with a new born baby in the family.

[Firstgradejags · Rating 5 out of 5]

FirstGradeJags 2010-11
Fluffy and Baron by Laura Rankin is a awesome book. We liked it because it was all about friendship. The main characters, Fluffy and Baron are a duck and a dog who are best friends and do everything together. It was a little sad in the middle, but it had a happy ending.

FirstGradeJags 2011-12
We really liked this book because it was all about friendship. We learned that this story really happened when the author was a little girl. When she grew up she decided to write a story about it. We are glad she did!

[Kristy Schwertfeger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a German Shepherd and a duck who become best friends. They do everything together and share everything too. But soon spring comes and the duck starts hanging around with the other wild ducks. Baron is jealous. But then Fluffy lays eggs and the eggs hatch and Baron is excited to spend time with the baby ducklings. Baron is also happy to share everything with them too. This is such a cute happy story with beautiful pictures. This would be a great book to read at the beginning of the year or to talk about friendship.

[Eyehavenofilter · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a German Shepherd and a baby duckling become friends...does it signify the end of the world? NO
this is a sweet story of how Fluffy the duck adopted Baron the Shepherd as her best pal. They eat together, drink together and sleep together. As Fluffy grows she turns white like any good domesticated duck should, but in the spring she is lured away by wild ducks and is missing fo 3 days. Baron is despondant. Will Fluffy come back... will she still be his "besty". theres a surprise in store for Baron and the cycle of life just keeps on turning.

[J-Lynn Van Pelt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute story of unlikely friendship between a german shepard and a duck. It is based on the author's childhood pets who played together and has an excellent author's note with plenty of scientific facts about ducks. The middle of the book gets a little sad, but would provide excellent opportunity for students to predict the ending.

The acrylic and ink pictures show subdued natural green and browns. They also do an excellent job of capturing the fun-loving spirit of the dog Baron.

[Jo ☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet story of friendship between Fluffy, a Pekin duck and a German Shepherd named Baron.

The illustrations are ridiculously adorable! Especially the expressions on Baron's face throughout the story. Simple text with just a line or two per page but this tale would have been great without any text since the pictures speak volumes all on their own. <3

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fluffy and Baron are friends.


Sweet story about a friendship between a dog and a duck that survives a duck leaving for a bit to have ducklings. Nicely shows that sometimes friendship is about patience and understanding. Baron's why people like dogs.

Bonus fun: based a true story of author's childhood pets. Photos are included in back of book.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book addresses friendships between two unlikely animals. As Fletcher talks about, we can use books like this to help the students embrace the many differences that they all possess. With the duck and dog becoming friends even though they are not of the same species, they still find the common interest and are still able to hang out and enjoy each other.

[Kate Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book because a dog met a duck and they became friends. Baron was good at tag and Fluffy was good hide and seek. Fluffy makes new friends and Baron has no one to play with, but Fluffy and her nine baby ducklings come back to play with Baron.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

PB 3: I loved everything about this book from the illustrations to the actual story! The story got sad in the middle and I was worried with how it was going to end, but it was a happy ending. It is a great story about friendship!

[Alysia Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: Fluffy and Baron
Author: Laura Rankin
Publisher: Dial
Date: June 2006
Genre: Diversity/Animals
Strength/Aspect of Special Interest: This book would be great to help students understand diversity, and how to come together even in diversity.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an unexpected delight. The story is based on the author's childhood pets, which I think heightens the enjoyment all the more. The strange bond between dog and duck is the heart of this story. I really liked it.

[Samantha Matiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a cute story that shows a beautiful and unique friendship between a German Shepherd and a duck. Is a very sweet story and its great to show children the meaning of friendship, and that is ok to have different people around us as friends.

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful little book about unconventional friendship. My 6 year old loved the story and that there were animals. She liked that the emotions went up and then down and then up.

[Jacquie Leighton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lainey loved it!

[Ayrriana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary: This book setting is on a farm. A friendship between a duck named Fluffy and a dog named Baron, from their first meeting when Fluffy was just a duckling through the time she has babies on her own. Fluffy and Baron did everything together. Everything was perfect between them until Fluffy join a group of wild ducks from the pond. From there, Baron was alone with no one to do the things he did with Fluffy.

Rating: 5

Explanation: I would recommend children to read this book because they’ll learn about friendship and how being friends with someone different is okay. This book teaches a sequence of events from beginning, middle, and end of the story about two different animals' friendship. Children reading this book will see that Baron and Fluffy stayed friends the whole time in the book and didn’t think differently of one another. They played and had fun with one another.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book with my 2nd graders today during our read-aloud time. We actually decided to not finish a previous book and I had not had the chance to go to the library and pick out our new one, so I told one of my kids to just pick out a book, and this happened to be the one she picked. It's a cute little story about a dog and a duck who are best friends. Then one day some wild ducks come along and change things. I highly enjoyed it and so did my students. We recommend it.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an adorable story! Baron, a handsome German Shepherd dog who lives on a farm, one day meets Fluffy, a friendly little duckling. They become friends, eating together, sleeping together, playing together ... until one day wild ducks become interesting for the now-grown duckling. She isn't around to keep Baron company for awhile, but then something wonderful happens for them and Baron has more friends than he ever expected.
Fabulous expressive illustrations.

[Ali Book&Seaglasshunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

We love this adorable friendship story of a German Shepherd and a Duck. Barron and Fluffy are inseparable best friends on the farm, until the day Fluffy meets wild ducks that come to the farm pond. Barron misses Fluffy after she leaves with the wild ducks, but Fluffy returns, with even more friends in tow. A nice, cute, wholesome story with even cuter illustrations-and it’s based on two of the author’s childhood pets too!

[Donna Mork · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book based on a true story. A dog and a duck become best friends. Then the duck leaves. When she comes back, she is busy with her nest and the dog is lonely. But at last, the eggs hatch and now the dog has 9 new best friends, plus his old friend, the duck, is back.

[Hope Decker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This brought me back to my days on the homestead...such a sweet story of a dog and duck who become best of friends. This is really timeless, and offers some information about mallards and domestic ducks for adults, as well.