Book Review of Dear Duck, Please Come!
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The Children’s Book Review
Dear Duck, Please Come!
Written by Sarah Mackenzie
Illustrated by Charles Santoso
Ages: 4+ | 40 Pages
Publisher: Waxwing Books (2025) | ISBN: 9781956393118
What to Expect: Friendship, problem-solving, empathy, and communication.
Dear Duck, Please Come! is a gentle, delightful story about care and communication.
When Duck receives an urgent request from Rabbit (“Please come. I lost my tooth!”), he knows just what a good friend should do. Duck starts searching high and low for Rabbit’s missing tooth. However, even with help from Badger, Turtle, and Squirrel, Duck cannot find Rabbit’s missing tooth anywhere. Then, Mouse makes a suggestion – Rabbit’s note asks Duck to come and see him, so that’s what Duck should do. Duck isn’t sure – what’s the point of going to Rabbit when he hasn’t been able to find his tooth for him? But he goes anyway—because that’s a good friend thing to do. Badger, Turtle, Mouse, and Squirrel go, too – everyone wants to be there for Rabbit. And it’s a good thing they do because Rabbit didn’t need help finding his tooth—he needed help celebrating it!
The animal characters in Dear, Duck, Please Come! are sweet and very easy to like, and as they all pitch in on their quest to help Rabbit, readers will enjoy spotting their mistakes before they do. The characters all model the qualities of empathy and selflessness, and as the story unfolds, humor is delivered not only through the punchline about mistaken communication but also through the artwork, which emphasizes the physical and emotional effort the animals are willing to go to for their friend. This humor will keep readers entertained throughout.
The gorgeous, softly colored pencil illustrations add visual appeal and show progression through various techniques, including comic-style paneling, increasing numbers of characters on each page, spatial arrangements, and text effects, providing readers with practice at interpreting both visual and textual clues.
Dear Duck, Please Come! is both visually and narratively enjoyable, making it a perfect addition to your library. Its engaging story and beautiful illustrations make it a book that children will want to read again and again and again.
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About the Author
Sarah Mackenzie is an enthusiastic reader and writer of picture books, including A Little More Beautiful, While Everyone Is Sleeping, and Because Barbara: Barbara Cooney Paints Her World.
About the Illustrator
Charles Santoso loves drawing little things in his little journal and is the illustrator of many books for kids, including Finding Muchness, Feeling Grateful, Happy Hippo, and Ida, Always.
Dedicated Reviews allow authors and illustrators to gain prompt visibility for their work. This is a sponsored*, non-biased review of Dear Duck, Please Come! Learn more about getting a book review …
