10 Little Rubber Ducks Board Book: An Easter and Springtime Book for Kids

We are slowly trying to introduce other languages to our native English speaking toddler, and this book is helping us with that. It is a very large, hard-cover (paper paged) book with bright pictures and a duck sound affect on the last page (just as with the small English-language board book of the same story, which we also have). It helps that our son knows the story well in English and helps us, too (as we stumble along learning Spanish ourselves). I difinitely recommend this book both to native and non-native Spanish speakers - it's a great way to learn and a lovely story about the adventures of 10 little rubber ducks who fall off a cargo shop and have their own adventures apart from one another.

Reviewed by Cayden (age 4) and Max (age 2) Aures and Mom for Reader Views (6/08) "10 Little Rubber Ducks" starts with the rubber ducks being made in the machine. They are then boxed up and put on a boat. One box falls overboard and the ten ducks in that box take off in all different directions. They all encounter different things; for instance, one meets up with a polar bear, one with a turtle, and one with a flamingo. The last duck meets up with a flock of real ducks. Cayden: "Why don't those ducks have eyes yet?" Cayden: "Oh- I see! That guy paints the eyes on and the lady paints their bills." Max: "Paint!" Cadyen: "We have ducks like that in our bathtub!" Cayden: "Let's count the ducks!" Max: "Boat!" Cayden: "The boxes full of ducks are going on the boat to go to other countries." Max: "Ducks fall!" Cayden: "The ducks fell into the water!" Cayden: "All of the ducks are going to different places." Cayden: "Look that rubber duck found some real ducks!" Cayden: Referring to the squeaker at the end: "That is hard to make squeak!" Max: "Hard! Help!" Parent's comments: "10 Little Rubber Ducks" is a fun book by one of our favorite children's authors, Eric Carle. This version is in board book format which is great for the younger ones so they don't rip the pages. The book provides numerous opportunities to teach counting, directions, and different animals to your children. Cayden counted the ducks over and over again in an attempt to teach Max his numbers. The storyline is engaging and the simplistic illustrations are wonderful! The only issue that we had with the book was that the duck that you can push to squeak at the end was difficult to get to work. If you just push down on it, it does not squeak. After playing with it we figured out that if you tap it short, fast, and hard with the tip of your finger it works very well.

Once again, Eric Carle teaches about a dozen concepts using about 10 words. I exaggerate, but only a little. This book teaches counting, including ordinal numbers. The ducks drift off in different directions such as left, right, up, and down, as well as the compass points. The rubber ducks encounter different animals, and the animals that the ducks meet correspond to the compass points. For example, the rubber duck that goes north sees a polar bear. The first couple pages succinctly describe the manufacturing/shipping process, something hard to find in preschool books. (At least, it's hard to find in terms they understand, Donald Crews "Truck" aside.) And the squeaker duck at the end is wonderful surprise!

"In 1992, a shipment of 29,000 bathtub toys fell overboard from a container ship. Eric Carle read a newspaper account that related how the various ducks, beavers, turtles, and frogs had bobbed their way to the shores of Alaska, through the Bering Strait, around the northern coast of Greenland, and into the Atlantic Ocean. According to Carle, 'I could not resist making a story out of the newspaper report.' Carle's story follows the fates of 10 imaginary rubber ducks that are washed overboard from a cargo ship and are swept away in all directions. Small readers and listeners will empathize with the little ducks' plight as they are lost at sea, and then rejoice at the heartwarming surprise ending. (Be sure to "Press here" in the appropriate place on the inside back cover for the book's full effect!)" (summary by South Texas Library System)

I bought this book for my children and it's as much fun for me as it is for them. The book deals with ordinal numbers as it counts to the 10th little rubber duck. And of course, Eric Carle's illustrations are fantastic. I really liked that Mr. Carle included the newspaper article that inspired the book and shared that with my children. It was a learning opportunity for us to talk about how you write a story and what kinds of things can inspire you. The surprise (the rubber duck squeak) at the end of the book keeps my littlest one turning to that page over and over.