I Wish That I Had Duck Feet (Beginner Books)

Another silly title from the Beginner Books series (the same place that Dr. Seuss and the Berenstains hang their hats), I Wish That I Had Duck Feet follows one little guy's dreams of borrowing all sorts of useful appendages from the animal world. "I wish that I had duck feet. And I can tell you why. You can splash around in duck feet. You don't have to keep them dry." But each time he imagines something new--those duck feet, a prickly pair of deer horns perfect for playing football, a spraying whale spout to keep his classroom cool--he realizes that it's not always all it's cracked up to be. "BUT... If I had a long, long tail, I know that Big Bill Brown would tie me in a tree! He would! Then how would I get down?" A vacuuming mom and pipe-smoking dad are straight out of '60s suburbia (Duck Feet first came out in 1965), but the playful illustrations and catchy rhymes still make for good fun. (Ages 4 to 8) --Paul Hughes