A Good Day for Ducks

Foul weather won't stop Justin from enjoying his first trip to his grandpa's duck hunting camp. In fact, cold and rain take on new meaning in this delightful storybook that offers children keen insights into what it means to be an active participant in the natural world. It's fall in the suburbs, and as Justin gazes out passively at his cold, rainy, gray neighborhood, he bemoans the fact that the weather's bad and there's nothing to do. All that changes when Grandpa shows up the next weekend and takes Justin to his duck cabin in the north woods. There, sharing his grandfather's duck blind, the boy discovers the joys of becoming what Thoreau called "a sojourner in nature," an active participant in the natural world. When Justin finally returns home, he takes back with him life lessons that he will never forget. He has learned how ducks migrate from north to south in the fall, and from south to north again come spring. He has learned about the need to conserve wet places-the lakes, ponds, and marshes-where ducks are found. He has discovered his own heritage, and the ties that bind one generation to the next. And most important, he has begun to see the world in a whole new way. When, in the end, Justin's mother complains about the cold and rain, and what an awful day it is to be out shopping, the boy can't help but share his newfound wisdom with her. "It's a good day for ducks," he tells her, alluding to the fact that ducks like to fly in such "miserable" weather. That's a nugget with broader implications, of course, because the more kids know about ducks and other wild creatures, the more they will care about conserving the special places wild animals call home.