The world is full of wonders for a newly hatched duckling, and most fascinating of all is the beautiful, silvery moon. Magical illustrations, enhanced by cutouts and luminescent foil, chronicle the duckling's quest to discover where the moon lives and what is the true secret of beauty. Full color.

Several cutouts, foil embossing and a flap that lifts to disclose a duckling inside an egg increase the child appealAand, apparently, the priceAof Gantschev's (The Christmas Teddy Bear; Moon Lake) homiletic story. After the inquisitive duck hatches (curiously enough, from his father's nest), he asks a string of questions, among them, "Where does the moon live?" As readers turn the pages, circular cutouts of increasing size make a luminous foil moon grow larger as the duck swims toward it and to the island home of a wise swan. There he hopes to answer his question and also discover "the secret of the moon's beauty." The duckling concludes that the moon "lives in all the sky" and (this is the anticlimactic "secret") that it never stops sharing: "When we see the moon go down, for someone else, the moon is rising." With brilliant colors and abstract elements, Gantschev's watercolor art adds a dash of whimsy; otherwise, the shiny graphics notwithstanding, the tale lacks luster. Ages 5-8. (Apr.)

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PreS-Gr 1AThis story begins as a father duck announces that an egg in his nest is hatching. A curious duckling is born, brimming with questions about the world around him. He fixates on the moon as the most beautiful and perplexing of all of nature's wonders. When his father can't answer the duckling's query, "Where does the moon live?" he is referred to the wise old swan. The enigmatic elder recommends that the duckling visit his house at night in search of enlightenment. At first, he believes that the moon resides in the swan's house, but upon closer examination he realizes that the moon lives in the sky and sheds its light on the entire world. Duckling returns home and announces, "The secret of the moon's beauty is simple: The moon never stops sharing." Watercolor pictures punctuated with cut-out peeks into the following pages illustrate the text. However, readers aren't adequately cued to lift the book's single, fragile flap that appears early in the narrative. The moon is represented by mylar images at the appropriate junctures. The endpapers that show pictures of a half moon with pieces dropping from it belie the story by suggesting perhaps a physical visit to or a bite being taken from the moon. The static illustrations and the tale itself lack the necessary vitality to captivate young readers. A quiet, somewhat didactic story.ARosalyn Pierini, San Luis Obispo City-County Library, CA