Duck Goes Meow product reviews

My own children grew up on a small farm where different animals interacted happily, vying for the attention of the humans around them and producing a cacophony of sounds at feed time. We even had inter-species parenting where hens hatched larger birds like geese, and one of the cows "adopted" a couple of puppies who would help themselves to a drink along with her own calf when she was on a hillside and they could reach! So, the idea of a confused duck who has a cat for a mother is not surprising to me. (Did I mention that we also had a parrot who would bark when anyone knocked at the door?)

The text is simple for little ones to follow. I read the book with Miss Three and Mr One, my friend's children, and she loved it. We stopped each time an animal sound came up in the text and we said it together. Mr One tried to join in too but as he cannot talk yet his noises were not quite recognisable - they all sounded the same to us! However, she was more than happy to repeat the sounds with me and her results were reasonably accurate. It was not long before she was matching the words to the animal; the text is set out with speech bubbles which point clearly to the appropriate animal.

Although the graphics are large and colourful, there are a couple where the animals are overlapping. Miss Three initially found these a challenge to identify. However, most of the pages feature just one or two pictures and they were very easy to make out. Although they were stylised, they were close enough to the original animals for her to identify. Personally, I have never seen a green dog, but she did not seem to mind; maybe it is a unique breed.

Mr One had a good time, even though he could not really follow the story - he kept patting the different pictures and chuckling despite his inability to say what they were. Each time his sister made an animal sound he screwed up his face and tried to copy her. When Duck said "meow", Mr One squealed in delight. Of course, it will not be long before he too is old enough to join in properly and enjoy the story. As for Miss Three, she was very happy with "her" new book and I was told by her mother next day that she had taken it to bed to look at the pictures and retell the story to herself.