Farmer Duck
A Pre-School Book For All Duck Lovers by Author/Illustrator Team
Martin Waddell and Helen Oxenbury work their magic again with one of the most unusual duck stories around. Can YOU imagine a duck hoeing a field?
Poor duck. Instead of scratching around the farmyard all day, feasting on delicious corn, he’s got to do all the work, while the farmer stays in bed eating chocolates and reading his paper. What kind of a life is that?
How Goes the Work?
That’s all that duck ever hears – the farmer shouting from his bedroom window to make sure the chores are being done. The duck brings the cow in from the field in the pouring rain. “How goes the work?” What else can he say but “Quack!” (he is a duck after all). He brings the sheep in from the hill. He puts the hens in their house. He even makes the farmer’s meals. And does he get so much as a “Thank you”? Absolutely not! That lazy lump farmer doesn’t even bother getting dressed – he just lies around in his pyjama bottoms and keeps stuffing himself. Oh dear dear.
Such a Clever Duck
You wouldn’t think he could do so many different jobs all around the farm (he seems like such an ordinary looking duck), but he does. He can saw wood, dig potatoes, wash dishes, iron clothes, pick apples, bring the eggs in from the hen house – he can even carry hay on a pitchfork. No wonder he’s so sleepy and weepy and tired. And tomorrow he’s got to do it all again!
Thank Goodness for Friends
But all is not lost. The other farm animals decide they don’t want to see poor duck work so hard anymore. So they all get together and make a plan. One by one the cow, the sheep and the hens creep into the farmhouse just before dawn. They try to be as quiet as they can as they climb up the stairs to the farmer’s bedroom. The sheep and the cow wriggle under the farmer’s bed and start to shake it about. The farmer wakes up with a start and shouts (can you guess?) “How goes the work?”. No, it’s not duck bringing him breakfast, but some very angry animals who are determined he will get out of bed. And out of the house! They chase him down the lane, through the fields and over the hill. And that’s the last they see of him. From then on nobody says “How goes the work?” because all the animals, not just duck, pitch in and run the farm very nicely all together.
A charming story with delightful illustrations, which really has you cheering for the duck from page one. Martin Waddell and Helen Oxenbury bring the animals to life with quirky human traits and a real sense of bonding together. For more information on titles by the same author/illustrator, visit the Walker Books website: www.walkerbooks.co.uk.
