For Me?

by Harmen van Straaten, MaryChris Bradley (Translator)

The appealing hero of Duck's Tale returns in this heart-warming story of friendship. Duck is puzzled when he finds a rose and a piece of paper with nothing on it but a hand-drawn heart, left on his doorstep. ""For me?"" he wonders. He takes his mystery note and rose to Toad's house and finds all his other friends are already there. Each of them has received a rose and a heart too! Who could have sent these mysterious gifts and who are they really for... Perfect for Valentine's Day, this is a ""year-round"" book that will delight children of all ages. It can be used to soften the trauma of being the ""new kid in the neighborhood,"" or in discussions about making new friends. This is the second book in The Continuing Tales of Duck series.

Genres: Picture Books, Friendship, Animals, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Tina Haigler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is translated from Dutch I believe. It's a tale about friendship and how not all kindnesses are intended to be romantic. I liked how they all had different personalities. I laughed at how silly some of the characters were being at times. I also liked how, when they realized they were wrong, they accepted it without any hard feelings, and welcomed the new person right away. It was a nice story with cute art. I would recommend this for ages 4-8.

[Sarah Threlkeld · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciate the idea, but the text was clunky and very long on some pages, which would cause many young readers to lose interest.

[A Allen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. Unfortunately, this book starts off with the characters assuming that the Valentine gifts they received were an indication of romantic love. I don't like how romantic love is valued and prioritized above other types of love, especially in a children's book. Further, the characters assume that the person giving the gifts is a woman; of course, the characters who had gotten the gifts were all men and I hate this heteronormative nonsense. When they meet the person who gave the gifts, they each "show off" and attempt to impress her or sit close to her. In the end they become friends but honestly I can't stomach this book until the end anyway.

[Madelyn Camacho-Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a duck and his friends receiving a rose, and they believe that someone is attracted to them. The book goes on that it's just their new neighbor, mole, and they all become friends. I just think it was hard to keep your attention, and I didn't understand the overall message. The illustrations look like cute hand drawings.

[Kurt Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok. It was better than The Wind in the Willows, and shorter too... and without an irresponsible, annoying Mr. Toad.

[Jack Kirby and the X-man · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an endearing tale of unknown love.

This book was originally published as "Eendje voor jou" in Dutch. Fortunately there doesn't appear to require word-play, rhyme or rhthym for the story to work, which are so often destroyed in translation. That being said the book doesn't seem to flow as well as I feel it should - which could be a product of the translation process.
This is a sequel to Duck's Tale, which I haven't read. Not having read the original doesn't seem to have affected my enjoyment of this book.

The characters in this book seem awfully similar to those in The Wind in the Willows... You have the new-comer Mole, the boat-owning, river-loving Otter (not dissimilar from Ratty), and the conceited Toad.

[Corinne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Group of friends each receive a rose and a red heart. They try to figure out who loves them. Story seems a little random, disjointed but I've noticed that with other international stories. Young children are often random in their story telling too.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute story about making new friends and competition between old ones. Four friends each get a flower and a heart and they wonder who is loved the most. It's a fun story to read aloud and we've borrowed this one a few times from the library.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the illustrations--they remind me a little of William Steig and a little of Quentin Blake. But the story is a little too boy-girl for me; I'm not really wild about a picture book for preschoolers that's all about boys competing for a girl's attention.

[Gail Barge]

A sweet and simple story of new friendships, this book would be good for the first days of school with younger students. The illustrations are simple and the animals are drawn rather simply, but cute at the same time. The mystery-giver of the roses will be exciting for the students to predict.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wonderful story about new friends. Duck and his friends receive a mysterious letter with a rose and think it is from someone who is in love with one of them. They don't know it is from their new neighbor mole.

[Rita · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was nice, but the pictures did not seem to go well with the text.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank really liked this story for some reason, though I did not particularly enjoy it.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Henry and I read this on September 26th. Nothing special, but not horrible. Cute moral.