Fantasy- Duck&Goose

Title: Duck & Goose

Written and Illustrated by Tad Hills

Grade Level: K-3

Genre: Fantasy

Do you ever wonder what the animals are thinking or making noise about? What if they had a way to communicate with you? What would they be saying? In this story Duck and Goose are having a conversation. This story is full of humor to get the reader laughing at the silly adventures they have.

Duck & Goose by Tad Hills is about a duck and a goose that come across what they believe to be an egg. They are not happy with each other arguing who the egg belongs to. They try to figure out how to take care of the egg while trampling over each other to try to get to it first. They started to slowly agree with each other while sitting on the “egg”. Then all of a sudden, when a little blue bird asked to play they team up against her. Finally, the bird says she just wanted to play with their ball, and they look at each other saying they knew it was a ball all along. This is a hilarious story about a duck and a goose who build a friendship in a silly way.  

The illustrations in this story are done very well. It is great for younger children because the pictures describe exactly what is taking place in the story. Also I enjoyed how he depicted the attitude in the illustrations as well. The language is simple and very appropriate for young children. There is a lot of humor that makes the reader laugh and enjoy reading this story.

This story is a fantasy because the author has given human characteristics given to animals where they can talk. Even though animals would never be able to behave like this, children can relate to the story because, the main idea is that the duck and the goose build a friendship. Children can relate to this by if they ever met someone new and tried to become friends with them.

 Duck & Goose by Tad Hills, would be best in grades PreK - 3. It can be a great book for a class to read together. In a classroom it could be used when learning about fantasy books, or friendships.  This story can make connections to the Massachusetts ELA Frameworks Key Ideas and Details (2 and 3). Students will also be able to use the text throughout this book and make connections to their life.