WOW! IT'S GREAT BEING A DUCK

A cumulative tale from Rankin (Scaredy Cat, 1996, etc.), as much about the choice of typeface as it is a story, falls short despite its elegant, finely detailed artwork. Lillee is the smallest and thinnest of her brood to hatch. She wears a remnant of shell on her head, obscuring her eyesight, and balks at entering the water, even though her mother cautions that something named ``Furry-legs, Long-tail, Sharp-snout, Pink-tongue Fox'' will gobble her up if she doesn't get wet. Lillee takes to walking and repeatedly encounters the fox, but doesn't recognize him. When the shock of his true identity registers, it blows the egg shard off Lillee's head, and the fox gives mortal chase. Lillee takes to the water, and the air, as never before, with instincts to duckdom that had been found wanting before the moment of truth. ``Wow! It's great being a duck!'' she chirrups, but it's not clear why fear of the fox brings the desired results when abandonment by her parent and siblings do not. The various font sizes are so aggressively manipulated that they mitigate any potential momentum. (Picture book. 4-8)