All My Little Ducklings

by Monica Wellington

An adorable family of downy ducklings wakes up, bright and enthusiastic about the day's promise of fun, and enjoys mischievous adventures on the pond under the watchful eye of Mother Duck.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals

20 pages, Board Book

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Monica Wellington was born in London and lived in Europe until she moved to the United States at age seven. As a child she always loved to draw and paint, but it wasn't until she went to college that she realized she wanted to be an artist for her profession. She went to the University of Michigan's School of Art to earn her BFA and studied pottery, painting and printmaking. After art school, while traveling and living in a number of different countries, she had various art related jobs, which were all good background and preparation for doing children's books. She has both written and illustrated the majority of her books. She says, "I usually start a book visually, with an idea of what I want to paint pictures about. The pictures may come first before the words for me. Both the pictures and words go through many revisions, and I am often still working on the final words after I finish the pictures." She says that doing children's books is great. "I get to have a job where I spend my days doing totally what I love to do. And it is very gratifying that my work goes out into the world and is shared with other people. I feel incredibly lucky for all this!"

Since 1994 she has taught illustration at the School of Visual Arts. She lives in New York City with her daughter Lydia.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't remember, so I guess it was forgettable?

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the simplicity of this book, both in story and in illustrations.

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book

[Vincent Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

"All My Little Ducklings" by Monica Wellington is a story about the typical, daily routine that several ducklings go on with their mother. The day begins with the ducklings waking up one sunny morning. After the ducklings awaken, they head towards the pond and take their morning bath. After playing in the pond, the ducklings go back on the land and explore their surroundings. The ducklings get something to eat, visit various farm animals in a nearby barn, and maybe cause some trouble by chasing the wild rabbits in the woods. When the day comes to a close and night starts approaching, the ducklings return to the pond to reunite with their mom and for one more swim. Then the ducklings head back to shore for the evening with their mother and tuck themselves in for a good night's rest.

After reading this story, I think that the illustrations correlate very well with the text. Surprisingly, I think that the illustrations corresponded very effectively to the text because the author does not write the book in complete sentences. Instead, most of the story is written in short phrases or even one word descriptions. For example, the author uses short phrases like “cuddle nuzzle snuggle” or one word verbs like “wonder, wander, ramble, and roam” to describe what actions the ducks were performing in the illustrations. Therefore, young children can easily put meaning to the words in this story, and the story can be understood through the pictures alone if the child has not yet learned how to read. Furthermore, it is also unique that the author altered the font on certain pages of this book to make the text more enjoyable to read. Instead of writing the text straight across the page, the author would incorporate the text into some of the pictures. For example, the author makes the font of her text more creative when she is describing the ducklings in the water by moving the text throughout the pond as if the text is illustrating the waves in the pond. In continuation, I like that the author uses numerous alliterations in this story. The alliterations are interesting to me because they emphasize certain sounds in the alphabet. For example, alliterations like “dibble dibble dabble” and “picking plucking” could have been strategically placed in this book to help children learn how to start making the “d” sound or the “p” sound in order to start formulating their own speech.

With all of these ideas in mind, I would recommend this story to all young children. This story is a must read for children because it teaches them the importance of family. For example, the story is told in the perspective of the mother duck, and she spends her whole day watching over her ducklings. In addition, the mother duck wraps up her day spending more quality time with her ducklings at night just as parents give their young children a bath and tuck in their young children into bed each night. Therefore, I believe that the mother duck and her ducklings symbolize a parent-child relationship in people. Furthermore, multiple ducklings are illustrated exploring the world together throughout this book, and these illustrations could represent the importance of solid, loving relationships between siblings. Thus, I believe that there are many important themes that a child can get out of this book.

[Cole Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great for children 1-5 years of age learning sound effects. The colorful pictures keep the reader engaged and the illustrations give great insight as to what all the sound effects mean. I remember my own mother reading this book to me and my brothers when we were young and we would point out which ducklings was more like us. Wither we were more like the ducking who was flipping and dipping in the pond, or the one that was splattering and splashing in the pond. This book sparks creative thinking in children and helps not just in beginning reading, but also for children to take a moment and reflect on themselves and their own character traits in their first few years of life.

[Bhunter2012 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Once again like all the other A,B,C / Counting books there is a patter to the words that allow kids to pronounce the same letter multiple times. There are also visual aspects that allow kids to see what is going on to help them with the words. I personally think these words were a little difficult for kindergardeners but first to second would do very well with this book.

[Jobiska (Cindy) · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of our top favorites when my son (now 13) was little.