Farmer Schulz's Ducks by Colin Thiele

Farmer Schulz's ducks were the loveliest ducks in the world. There were brown ducks and grey ducks and speckled ducks. There were ducks with necks of opal and wings of amethyst; their colours gleamed in the sunlight, their feathers shone like jewels. There were ducks with the sheen of emerald, of sapphire and turquoise and jasper, like the glint of Aladdin's treasure. There were ducks like burnished gold.

Farmer Schultz's Ducks by Colin Thiele, first published in 1986 by Walter McVitty Books, is now out of print, yet but this beautiful story set in the Adelaide Hills is still relevant to the young readers of today. Farmer Schulz's beloved ducks keep on dying undignified deaths. His farm farm is close to a highway and the ducks become potential  road victims every time they cross the highway to the Onkaparinga River. Rapid urban development has seen an increase in the traffic and also an indifference to the fate of the ducks by motorist tearing along to meet their busy work schedules. Farmer Schulz's daughter Anna has a few ideas to solve the problem. Farmer Schulz soon incurs the disapproval of government and the family has to rethink their whole approach to the problem. The illustrations by Mary Milton, a South Australian artist, are subtle yet detailed reflections of a myriad of breeds and personalities of the ducks described in the text. They also richly portray family life on this farm. Colin Thiele was born in South Australia in 1920 and his German ancestry was certainly a big influence on the book.

Farmer Schulz

Ducks at Play by Sophie Bevan

I picked this book up mainly because of a certain duck called Pee Pee that my son used to own. 

"When brand new ducklings enter the world they will bond with the first moving thing they see. Hopefully, this will be their mother, but it has been known for ducklings to believe they are human and to follow their owners around, mimicking their behaviour."

Now this is exactly what Pee Pee did after been bought from the Hobart Royal Show as a hatchling. Travis didn't used to run round messing on the floor everywhere, but Pee Pee followed him absolutely everywhere and wasn't the least bit interested in me, even though I made him the box with the suspended light bulb and scurried home from school during the recreational breaks to refill the water bowl he would regularly upend. Eventually, Pee Pee, the water-loving duck, became too big to keep in a suburban back, so we released him into a pond on the property of a friend of a friend. 

This little hardback is packed with beautiful photographs of all manner of ducks, quotations from famous writers and some interesting snippets of information. It is a perfect short term read for an upper primary student. It is compprised of four chapters: not so ugly duckling, quack quack, preening poultry,and, a duck to water. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of owning a duck will surely enjoy this little number.