HIGH FEATHERS FOR LULU DUCK

In Davis’ debut picture book, an upbeat young duck struggles to control her excitement in the lead-up to a singing performance.

Lulu, a pink-cheeked, pink-ribboned yellow duckling, is known for her cheerful, friendly personality…and her involuntary, high-pitched quacking whenever she grows too excited. Lulu’s young friends are helping her prepare for a vocal recital. They include Finley, a light-skinned, blond-haired girl; Maria, a bespectacled Latine girl; and Pierre, a blue-eyed French boy. Lulu loves singing, but she can never complete her song without suffering an attack of the “oopsie duckies.” By joining her on stage, can Lulu’s friends keep her calm enough to make it through her performance? Davis narrates in straightforward, nonrhyming text, allowing the cute story to speak for itself. Lulu is a loveable protagonist, her excitability immediately recognizable in her propensity for “high-feathering” (“high-fiving,” only with wings) her friends. QBN Studios’ digital illustrations capture the crayon textures of early childhood artwork; they are particularly evocative in their depictions of trees and, less tangibly, joyousness. Lulu’s colorful QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!s leap from the page. The hand-painted stage is a true work of art; the children, in contrast, seem a little generic—an impression furthered by such repetitions as the “Hi/Hola/Bonjour” illustrations being identical to those of the subsequent images accompanying “Bye/Adios/Au revoir.” Nonetheless, young readers should delight in Lulu’s quack-happy “preduckament.”

A sweet, reassuring tale of feather-flapping fun and friendship.