MR. DARCY

Mr. Darcy, a mallard wearing a top hat, learns to accept help from his friends.

The extremely cute Mr. Darcy lives in a fancy park and wants nothing to do with Lizzy and her sisters, ducks who live in an ordinary park. They encounter each other repeatedly, and Mr. Darcy ends every interaction flustered and fleeing, presumably because he either finds Lizzy too low-class to interact with or because he is embarrassed to admit he does not want to accept her invitation to tea. When Mr. Darcy gets stuck in a mud puddle, Lizzy, a horse named Bingley, a cow named Caroline, and a mouse named Maria conspire to help him despite his being too proud to ask. Mr. Darcy decides to go to tea, and in the end he feels “not alone at all”—a problem of his that was only hinted at previously. The moral finally becomes clear on the last page—sort of. Through Lizzy’s efforts, Mr. Darcy seems to have learned not to be so prideful and to accept help from his friends. The message and humor largely depend on prior literary knowledge, making for a bewildering story for children who presumably have not yet read Pride and Prejudice. The adorable and simply colored line drawings are the highlight. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A charming book whose message will be lost on all but adult fans of Jane Austen.