Click, Clack, Peep! (Ready to Read: Level Two)

PreS-K—From the team responsible for such classic barnyard escapades as Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type (2000) and Giggle, Giggle, Quack (2002, both S. & S.) comes a new installment about the indomitable Duck. This time, he receives a very special package (the title page, recto, and verso show the arrival of the truck that delivers a crate with a duck egg inside). The entire farm quietly watches the momentous hatching. Soon, the egg cracks and a fuzzy yellow duckling emerges, breaking the silence with loud and insistent "Peep peep peeps." The increasingly exhausted animals take turns trying to calm the relentless Baby Duck, but nothing works, until Duck notices and pitches in. Giving tractor rides back and forth across the farm puts the little one to sleep, though in true Duck style, it wreaks havoc for the farmer. Lewin's characteristic watercolors are as funny and expressive as ever. Though not quite as involved as some of Duck's previous adventures, this is a delightful bedtime story for fans familiar with Duck and little ones who might be new to these wonderfully silly tales.—Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY

After a lively baby duck is born on the farm, the animals from Click, Clack, Moo and its sequels try to turn its "peep peep peep" into "peep peep... sleep" at bedtime. Lewin's always expressive watercolors show sleep-deprived hens and sheep rocking the duckling to sleep and knitting it a blanket, but it's Duck who arrives at a solution that will be familiar to parents who have reached for their car keys in order to lull a restless baby to sleep. A sweet-natured addition to the series, and one that will leave readers giggling, thanks to a great closing gag. Ages 4-8. Agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties. (Feb.)