Starred Review ALA Booklist (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

Starred Review All spring, This Duck and That Duck play in the Little Puddle, surrounded by rushes. One day, This Duck ventures out and That Duck follows. They discover a lake-like Big Puddle, where This Duck paddles happily and coaxes That Duck to join her. They swim every day until autumn. Watching "birdy-birds" flying overhead, This Duck runs, hops, and flaps her wings. Soon she's flying and, with her encouragement, That Duck flies, too. They join a flock, migrating south for the winter. Spring brings the two mallards home, and soon they're leading a line of little ducklings to the Big Puddle for swimming. "And every single one of them felt downright ducky." Occasionally using distinctive, presumably duck-like terms, from birdy-birds to wadey-water, the creative narration draws readers into the characters' world through precisely chosen, yet unpretentious words. Dialogue and action contrast This Duck (adventuresome, observant, and driven by instinct) with That Duck (slower, more hesitant, but loyal). Sheban's luminous, softly shaded artwork, created with watercolor, colored pencil, and graphite, creates a lovely setting and portrays the characters with warmth and quirky individuality. Best of all, the illustrations capture the understated humor of the story. An amusing, warmhearted picture book, wonderful for reading aloud.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

This Duck (a confident female) and That Duck (a trepidatious male) enjoy each other's companionship in the "wadey-water" until discovering a wider world makes the extrovert wish for more friends.This Duck yearns to lead a "more ducky" line when they move about, prompting her to wish for Other Ducks. Yeomans' language is a delightful combination of the childlike and the existential. When questioned about the meaning of "Other Ducks," she replies, "Like us, only not us." Sheban's soft, textured compositions are rendered in watercolor, colored pencil, and graphite; they start out sunny, with warm greens and yellows in the foreground and cool lavender shadows and shapes on the horizon. The lighting and mood change with the seasons and situations. As they explore, This Duck, who is observant but not always accurate, speaks to her mate in ways that will remind adults of an old married couple. Their misunderstandings and postures are humorous, as when they see their reflections and attempt to coax their new liquid companions into line. Nature's pull leads the pair to follow their autumnal instincts—learning to fly and falling into formation with others of their kind. While that experience is exhilarating, it pales in comparison to the feeling next summer when four adorable ducklings bring up the rear.A marvelous portrayal of the humor and uncertainty surrounding growth—and the comfort in having a fellow traveler. (Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

This Duck (a confident female) and That Duck (a trepidatious male) enjoy each other's companionship in the "wadey-water" until discovering a wider world makes the extrovert wish for more friends.This Duck yearns to lead a "more ducky" line when they move about, prompting her to wish for Other Ducks. Yeomans' language is a delightful combination of the childlike and the existential. When questioned about the meaning of "Other Ducks," she replies, "Like us, only not us." Sheban's soft, textured compositions are rendered in watercolor, colored pencil, and graphite; they start out sunny, with warm greens and yellows in the foreground and cool lavender shadows and shapes on the horizon. The lighting and mood change with the seasons and situations. As they explore, This Duck, who is observant but not always accurate, speaks to her mate in ways that will remind adults of an old married couple. Their misunderstandings and postures are humorous, as when they see their reflections and attempt to coax their new liquid companions into line. Nature's pull leads the pair to follow their autumnal instincts—learning to fly and falling into formation with others of their kind. While that experience is exhilarating, it pales in comparison to the feeling next summer when four adorable ducklings bring up the rear.A marvelous portrayal of the humor and uncertainty surrounding growth—and the comfort in having a fellow traveler. (Picture book. 4-6)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In this tale from author Yeomans (Jubilee) and illustrator Sheban (I Met a Dinosaur), This Duck and That Duck are best friends trying to figure out the whole duck thing, which is tough without other ducks around to show them the ropes. But This Duck-small and brown compared to the bigger, green-headed That Duck-has the right instincts and moxie. She knows, for instance, that ducks are supposed to waddle in a line and that -Two is not a line. Two is a follow. A line is better. A line is more ducky.- As This Duck nudges her more dubious and dense friend, the two soon get the hang of swimming, flying, and migrating. The following spring, they return to the pond with four adorable offspring, clearly having gotten their ducks in a row in more ways than one (although That Duck still seems a little in the dark). The central conceit-that the two ducks regard their reflections as the eponymous -Other Ducks--doesn-t add much by way of narrative ballast, but the slightly addlepated patter proves endearing, and the watercolor-and-pencil drawings combine comic exaggeration and intricate, evocative textures to wonderful effect. Ages 3-8. Author-s agent: Ginger Knowlton, Curtis Brown. (May)

School Library Journal (Tue May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

PreS-Gr 2 This charming story explores friendship, curiosity, and nature. This Duck and That Duck, a pair of Mallards, enjoy each other's company, "playing all spring as the rushes grew high and lush besides the wadey-water of the Little Puddle." This Duck (the little brown female) is strongly intuitive. First, she says "there should be Other DucksLike us, only not us." She bounds into the water calling, "I'm swimming!" without knowing exactly what swimming is (describing it as "waddling in water"). Summer passes and she discovers that the birds who are flying to the warmth are indeed the Other Ducks they have been seeking. She "ran, and hopped, and flew", and when her feathers began to itch, she decided that they needed to go "South" and will return with Other Ducks of their own. Sheban's watercolor, graphite and colored pencil illustrations are simple (gourd-shaped ducks with tiny black eyes) yet so evocative, that readers can tell what's going on even without the text. Paired with Yeomans's words, the story is almost cinematic. VERDICT This Duck's evolving sense of "ducky"-ness offers unlimited opportunity for discussion about self-awareness, nature, and friendship. Match with Robert Bruel's Bob and Otto and Sam Swope's Gotta Go! Gotta Go! Lisa Lehmuller, Paul Cuffee Maritime Charter School, Providence