A Duck in New York City Storybook with Music CD

All Ages

Birth - 12 months

by Connie Kaldor
Illustration by Fil & Julie

An original work by well-known singer-songwriter Connie Kaldor that tells the story of a little prairie duck with a big idea - making it on Broadway. It's a long shot, and New York's very far away. Luckily, a truck-driver named Big Betty comes along, offers him a ride, and gives him that extra little boost he needs to fulfill his dream!

Age: 3 Year-olds | Title: A Duck in New York City Storybook with Music CD | Author: Connie Kaldor | Publisher: Secret Mountain

Why we chose this book

Winner of the Parents' Choice Gold Award and a National Parenting Publications Association (NAPPA) Honors Award, A Duck in New York City is more than 'just ducky'! The compelling multi-media pictures creatively use material such as copper wire and buttons mixed in with vividly-colored painted and cartoon drawn pictures. The materials and visible paintbrush strokes add texture to each page, encouraging touch by little readers. The abstract quality to the pictures - particularly the backgrounds - will greatly encourage your child's imagination. The story has a clear plot, with the little duck striving to get to New York City and perform his ducky dance on Broadway; it is presented through a combination of varying line length, dialogue, and font changes to emphasize the repeated line, "Yes, you can." After the story, the lyrics to the accompanying CD are also printed, so you and your little one can follow along together while listening.

The moral of the story, listen to your heart, is an excellent lesson for parents and grandparents to stress to their little ones after reading the story. They can further emphasize the message, making it more fun, by using a different voice for the repeating line, "Yes, you can." After reading the story a few times, you can let your child fill in the blank whenever that line comes up. You can also talk about the little duck's feelings of having a goal and working toward it. Does your little one have a dream that they want to accomplish?

My three-year-old friend, Sam, loved the pictures in this book, holding the page for a few extra minutes each time before allowing me to turn it. He especially loved the page depicting the truckers holding up various newspapers, as each had humorous articles on them. Sam asked me to read him each one. He thought the list of "Big Betty's Favorite Driving Songs" was very funny, because it was also the names of the songs on the CD that came with the book.

--Audra

About the music

The song titles suggest silliness right away; Belly Button is a catchy ballad singing praises to belly buttons, and even suggesting a Belly Button Day! The Nose song is an upbeat tune all about how much the singer loves her nose - she even wishes she had two! A Duck in New York City has the big band sound. Slug Opera uses a silly voice to imitate what a slug (supposedly) sounds like. The opera tune breaks down into a boogy-woogy in the middle, sure to get your child moving. If You Love a Hippopotamus is sure to be a quick favorite, as children sing along and even make up a word to complete the rhyme, "And you love her a lot-amus." Seed in the Ground is one of the fewer slower, mellow songs on the CD, displaying a pretty harmony not heard in the other songs.

Some of the songs tells stories, or involve tasks that you can talk with your child about, such as eating tomatoes. Even though the song presents its message in a funny manner (naming crazy tomato concoctions like tomato milkshakes and tomato-flavored toothpaste), the idea of making tomatoes fun for kids is great! Can you get your little one to try a tomato after hearing the song? I Want to be a Cloud is a great imagination stoker; the song names all kinds of fun things to change in to if you were a cloud - a tricycle, hamburger, spaceship, or a diamond ring! What sorts of images would your child want to turn in to if they were a cloud? Perhaps your child just wants to boogy down and sing along. In that case, they can easily join in the fun lyrics in The Alligator Waltz, like "La-la-la-la hmmmmmmm" and "hoochy kootchy kootchy koo", or they could practice whistling along with Belly Button. Honey, Honey, Honey is set up like a campfire song, with no instruments, and it is perfect for singing along. Children can join in right away, as "Honey" is the only word in the chorus. The singer even makes funny voices for the bee and bear, adding to the fun. There is a clever twist to the end of this song, but I won't give it away here.

This recording has won multiple awards, including the Parents' Choice Gold Award, National Parenting Publications Association (NAPPA) Honors Award, a Juno Award (Canadian equivalent to the Grammy Award), and Children's Album of the Year. Story, lyrics, music and lead vocals are by Connie Kaldor, who is "one of Canada's most significant contemporary folk performers" (Billboard Magazine). Her song Wood River is considered by many to be the quintessential Saskatchewan song. In 2007, she was appointed to the Order of Canada.

The Secret Mountain's music has touched the hearts of parents and children for years. With multiple awards from Parents' Choice, NAPPA and Juno Awards, the Montreal-based publishing house has made great children's entertainment that both kids and adults will love.