Jez Alborough - Duck in the Truck

The mud may be sticky in this piece of rhymed tomfoolery from Alborough (Can You Jump Like a Kangaroo?, 1996, etc.), but the wordplay is clear and washed. Duck is motoring along a rutted country road in his old clunker truck. The truck hits a stone, bounces once, and lands in the glop. Duck hops off``These are the feet that jump the Duck down/into the muck all yucky and brown''and finds his vehicle stuck fast. Through illustrations that are so welcoming readers will want to crawl right into the artwork, Alborough then introduces Frog and Sheep and Goat, who yeomanly lend a hand. As Duck's wheels at last gain traction and he tools off into the sunset, he literally does his helpmates dirty: ``This is the Duck driving home in the truck/leaving the Frog, the Sheep, and the GoatStuck in the muck!'' A tale that is sweet, funny, and messythree attributes with which any child can identifycombines with sprightly verse and inviting illustrations to make Alborough's latest a thorough success.