Sitting Duck

by Jackie Urbanovic

When Brody's niece Anabel comes for a visit, Max and the gang's only job is to keep her out of trouble. How hard could it be to babysit a puppy anyway? To Max's surprise, this fun-loving pup can't help getting into trouble—especially when set loose in the backyard. Turns out being a “sitting duck” is a lot harder than Max expected! In this hilarious Max the Duck book, children will delight in the silly mayhem that results when Max tries to be a good babysitter.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Humor

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Kiddo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple, fun, sweet. Reading more by this author at kiddo's request.

[Mark Fehlandt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confusing at best, this book has no real discernible plot and so many characters that it's hard to keep track of them. The characters show no development nor do they seem to have very strong relationships to each other, and quoted statements aren't attached to any particular characters making it even more difficult to follow. Overall the illustrations are pretty strong, but they can't make up for the lack of a story, or any kind of lesson, moral, or new knowledge for kids to learn from.

[Hector Gutierrez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really nice illustrations, I recommend this book for anyone that needs a fun book to wake the class up. This book is really interactive if they can read children s books then this is there book. I would use this book to talk about how to behave with a babysitter and how to behave also.

[Leah Edel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary:
Brody and the other animals in the house were supposed to babysit his niece Anabel. A lot of the animals left the house because they didn’t want to have to help. Brody and Anabel did a lot of things together, like chef and dress up, but then Brody was tired and wanted to have a naptime. So, Brody ended up falling asleep and Anabel didn’t, instead she went outside to jump on the trampoline with Max. After a lot of jumping, Anabel got stuck in the tree and it took a while for her to get down. By the time Anabel needed to be picked up she was sleeping because they had such a long day.

Possible Topics:
1. Babysitting- fun but also can be a lot of work.
2. Don't fall asleep when you are supposed to be doing something.
3. Be careful on a trampoline!

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was okay, but the whole things just felt all willy-nilly. It went all over the place. In fact, the beginning of the book was a bit hard to follow.

[Miss Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Puppy sitting is more like it. Annabelle comes to visit uncle Body and boy do they really enjoy their day. So many activities to do together to the point of exhaustion!

[Aiden and Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

GRL: N
DRA: 30

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Puppy sitting is more like it. Annabelle comes to visit uncle Body and boy do they really enjoy their day. So many activities to do together to the point of exhaustion!

[Miss Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A duck and two dogs are babysitting a puppy. what could go wrong? So cute and filled with love nad enthusasism. Preschool and up

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why can't YOU be the soup?

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't miss the endpapers! Object lessons: 1. it is possible to have too many pets, 2. make sure your trampoline has the net in place. Funny, cute, sweet.

[Cassie Veselovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review is here: http://readitagainmom.blogspot.com/20...

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the duck a lot, especially when he was in the soup pot. 😄 A bunch of animals are friends, but most of them leave when it's time to babysit a puppy.

[Danette · Rating 3 out of 5]

1/6/26 Read with Charlotte and Harper

[carissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Brody's niece Anabel comes for a visit, Max and the gang's only job is to keep her out of trouble. How hard could it be to babysit a puppy anyway? To Max's surprise, this fun-loving pup can't help getting into trouble—especially when set loose in the backyard. Turns out being a “sitting duck” is a lot harder than Max expected!

In this hilarious Max the Duck book, children will delight in the silly mayhem that results when Max tries to be a good babysitter.

I didn't really like this book for read-aloud. I thought the dialogue was confusing and it was hard to identify which character was saying what.

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 21-mo-old son really liked this book. I found the illustrations and expressive text to be fun, though the story is not particularly memorable or clever. I thought there were a lot of unnecessary character-mentions, which was quite confusing for the first few read-throughs. It took awhile to realize who was who, and even now, I don't know who all the characters are. It makes me think that maybe this is supposedly a popular series and "everyone" already knows all the characters? I've never heard of it... Perhaps it's based on a tv show? Anyway, it is a fun read, though I wouldn't consider it to be a "must-have" for my permanent collection.

[Cooper Elementary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Max the duck is helping his friend Brody babysit his niece Anabel. After playing dress up, chef and ball, Brody is tired. He tries to get Anabel to take a nap, but he’s the one who falls asleep. Anabel begs Uncle Max to take her outside. Max thinks one puppy won’t be any trouble, but that’s a big mistake!

The cartoon-like pictures show just how busy Anabel is. Young readers will enjoy seeing how Max solves Anabel’s biggest problem. This is also a great book to use when talking about reading expressively.

Check out Duck and Cover and Duck at the Door for more amusing adventures of Max the Duck and his friends.

[Pamela Hatch · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sitting Duck (Max the Duck #4) / written and illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic -- New York : HarperCollins, c2010. (36 pages)

SUMMARY: When Brody's niece Anabel comes for a visit, Max and the gang's only job is to keep her out of trouble. How hard could it be to babysit a puppy anyway?...In this hilarious Max the Duck book, children will delight in the silly mayhem that results when Max tries to be a good babysitter. (Book jacket)

REVIEW. I love the first book in the series, DUCK AT THE DOOR, but this title was not a favorite of mine. The best thing going for it is the humorous illustrations. But those readers that like the Max the Duck series will enjoy this one as well.

[Dawn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Browsing books to give my friends' children as gifts since I won't gift anything I haven't first read myself.

While I have loved the other Max the Duck books I've evaluated, this one was a dud. The illustrations are on par with the other books, but the story starts with no real context, and it falls apart from there. The antics seem random, and even with some familiar characters, the story is unrelatable and disjointed. If I had trouble following it as an adult, I cannot imagine a child trying to make sense of it. I'll skip this one for my gift-giving purposes.

[Libby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure about this series--I've read a couple, but they just don't click for me. In this episode, Max the duck has become part of the family with Brody the (sheep?)dog, Irene the human, and a whole lot of other animals and gets roped into babysitting for Brody's niece. Has cute elements, but again, just doesn't quite mesh for me. I think there are too many animals (I find it hard to keep characters names' straight) to be able to really identify with them.

[Carol Royce Owen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was ok, but a few too many characters which I thought would make it confusing for its intended audience - Kindergarteners through 2nd grade. I had to keep checking to see which character they were referring to as they mentioned one after another. The pictures are full of energy, though, so children should like it.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is such a cute book and very helpful for teaching prediction. The way the events unfold naturally lend themselves for asking what could happen next. The way the text is in the book, it is paired with that particular illustration and so makes a smooth transition for students who use the illustrations for meaningful clues.

[Elizabeth S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute. Really cute. I truly enjoy the personalities of the various animals in these books. (It is a whole series of picture books. Read 'em all!) In this one, the animals join forces to babysit. Somehow, it takes everything they've got. Welcome to kids!

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Max the Duck and Brody the dog take on babysitting Brody's niece for the day. Not as great as the other ones, but still a nice story. There are the usual complications of watching young ones. Anabel makes a mess and gets in trouble, falls asleep looking like an angel.

[Earl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quick Review: Not even the illustrations could save this book from a one-star rating. Even though I'm not the target demographic, I still appreciate humor in children's picture books- in which this was very short on.

[Rebecca Snodgrass · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was too confusing with all the names and animals. I still don't know who is the one being babysat. However, the pictures are adorable. I enjoyed them very much. I just could not follow the story very well.

[OnceUponALibrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute. I think kids will like it, but somehow not a lot of appeal for me. I feel nit-picky but I find there are too many character names and while the idea of mishaps while babysitting is a fun story idea the plot of the story was a little ho-hum.

[Paige P · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the illustrations. I think this story would be good for kids that are just doing some silent reading or reading for pleasure. There really isn't a message from the story. It's cute- just a book I wouldn't use for a learning opportunity.

[Cara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as some of the others in the series.

[Jami · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the other duck books.