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Farmer Brown's Barnyard Tales
Click, Clack, Surprise!
Little Duck learns how to celebrate his birthday with a little help from all the other animals on the farm in this charming picture book from the award-winning duo, Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin.
Happy first birthday, Little Duck!
Everyone wants to look their best for the party. But Little Duck has never had a birthday before—so how better to learn how to prepare than to do what all the other animals do! The sheep trim their wool—so Little Duck trims her feathers. The pigs need a mud bath—so Little Duck quish and quashes, too. All over the barnyard Little Duck snips, slurps, squishes, and shimmy shakes herself ready until...WHOOPS! It’s party picture time—and Little Duck is a big mess. No matter—it’s not something Farmer Brown’s frosted maple cake can’t fix!
Happy first birthday, Little Duck!
Everyone wants to look their best for the party. But Little Duck has never had a birthday before—so how better to learn how to prepare than to do what all the other animals do! The sheep trim their wool—so Little Duck trims her feathers. The pigs need a mud bath—so Little Duck quish and quashes, too. All over the barnyard Little Duck snips, slurps, squishes, and shimmy shakes herself ready until...WHOOPS! It’s party picture time—and Little Duck is a big mess. No matter—it’s not something Farmer Brown’s frosted maple cake can’t fix!
40 pages, Hardcover
First published September 6, 2016
4 people are currently reading
267 people want to read
About the author
Doreen Cronin
122 books444 followersDoreen Cronin (born 1966) is an American writer of children's books, including Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type, a very well-received picture book illustrated by Betsy Lewin.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
March 10, 2018
The little duck is am adorable copycat which makes the book a complete success. A surprise waits for you as you keep on turning the pages.
September 18, 2019
Neo is back reading and having a blast as he does it. He picked up this book to showcase some of his wonderful skills, and to prove that practice does make a newer reader even better. Little Duck is about to celebrate a birthday, with everyone else on the farm preparing for the party as well. The animals go through the ‘primping’ activities, in hopes of looking their best, as Little Duck copies them. By the end, with the cake and streamers out, Little Duck has made quite a mess of it all... but how can you fault the birthday duck? Neo liked all the sounds and the great illustrations this book offers, though he thought there could have been more of a story. Overall, he did well and may look for more but the authors of this piece.
February 7, 2017
I will continue to read everything in this series, and to recommend them, but this isn't the strongest. It's rather wordy (long) for the ending, which is telegraphed from near the beginning. It does play with language and would be fun to read aloud, and it's still funny, and I am grateful to my library for buying it!
December 9, 2018
The animals in Farmer Brown's barnyard prepare for Little Duck's first birthday in this amusing entry in author Doreen Cronin and illustrator Betsy Lewin's ongoing picture-book series about their adventures. As each animal makes itself ready - Duck rub-a-dubbing, the sheep snippity-clipping, the cat slurp-a-lupring - Little Duck watches and imitates. By the time he's done, he's made himself look like an unforgettable mess for his birthday celebration...
I enjoyed Click, Clack, Surprise!, which is the eleventh full-sized picture-book in this series. Normally I like to read the books in a series in order, but since this one was to hand, and the others are on their way to me via library request, I thought I'd make an exception to my usual policy, and skip on from the fourth title to this one. I appreciated the humor here, and think young children, who themselves might have a bit of talent when it comes to making themselves a mess, will appreciate it as well. I also appreciated the use of onomatopoeia in the descriptions of the animals' various preparations, as that will make this one a better read-aloud. All that said, I'm not sure I found this one quite as giggle-inducing as the early books about these characters. Still, the story was enjoyable, the artwork appealing, and fans of these books will find much to keep them entertained.
I enjoyed Click, Clack, Surprise!, which is the eleventh full-sized picture-book in this series. Normally I like to read the books in a series in order, but since this one was to hand, and the others are on their way to me via library request, I thought I'd make an exception to my usual policy, and skip on from the fourth title to this one. I appreciated the humor here, and think young children, who themselves might have a bit of talent when it comes to making themselves a mess, will appreciate it as well. I also appreciated the use of onomatopoeia in the descriptions of the animals' various preparations, as that will make this one a better read-aloud. All that said, I'm not sure I found this one quite as giggle-inducing as the early books about these characters. Still, the story was enjoyable, the artwork appealing, and fans of these books will find much to keep them entertained.
April 18, 2018
Little Duck is back and it is her birthday! Everyone is invited to meet under the maple tree for cake, games, and presents, but first they must get ready to look their best. All the animals have different ways of getting ready, and Little Duck tries all of them! Silly Little Duck. The use of repetition in this book is a fun way to get students engaged with the text and reading along, and Little Duck is sure to make students giggle. I would read this book aloud in my class and then have students draw which animal and which cleaning method they thought was the best. I would hang all the drawings up in the classroom under the animals they belonged to (sheep snippety-clipping, pigs squishy-squashing, etc.) so that all the students could see and remember what we read in the book. I would most likely use this book in kindergarten or first grade classrooms.
September 7, 2016
What a cutie rub-a-dub little duck!
September 7, 2016
Adorable! My toddler made me read it three times in a row. Good fun.
January 15, 2017
good read-aloud, a lot of onomatopoeia. could get kids to imitate the sounds or movements of the animals when you're reading.
January 16, 2019
This whole series is fun!
July 8, 2022
I read this with Julianna tonight. We took turns reading as some words she recognized and could read. She enjoyed the book; 2nd cute one we read in this series. Cute stories/pictures & funny sounding words for her. She gives it a five. We read this after we read 2nd 1/2 of Highlights High 5 magazine. She loves how this book is funny & the picture in magazine that asks to find the silly things in 2 pictures. She enjoys laughing like Mommy. :D She even did a maze tonight in her journal book from reading teacher. Cow got to the muffin & and wrote with mommy's help words that start with M: Milk and Marshmellows. I spell her the word and she writes it. 3rd page down on that book for summer. Camp has her do other book for summer during learning time that she needs to give in 1st day of 1st grade. Camp was another special day. 1st day group piano class, arts & crafts; dancing with videos on smart board; making new friends & has 3 old friends from prek that returned. 3 days enjoyed so far. And tomorrow is making ice pops and Sprinkler fun day. Her class is Team Mirabel; Encanto <3
March 28, 2018
No charm.
Read
March 1, 2017This is pretty mediocre, but that's not what bugs me about it. Why use the phrase "click, clack" if the typewriter doesn't even make an appearance?
October 27, 2019
I think this book is great, I like it. It is little duck’s birthday. The animals all plan to go under the maple tree for little duck’s birthday party. Everyone wants to look their best for the party. Except for the cows, they all do their kind of bath and cleaning. The little duck wants to do the same thing as the other animals, she follows a duck to rub the body, follows the sheep to trim the hair, follows the cat slurp the body, follows a chicken take a dust bath, and follows pigs to take a mud bath. I think the mud bath is good for pigs, but not for a little duck. At the end, everyone said happy birthday, but they are surprised to see a muddy, dusty little duck. This is a fable story. It tells me that we should not just follow other people without thinking, because things works well for some people but not for everyone.
September 15, 2017
This was a fun and very creative read. I don't love some of the later books in this series but this one works. There is opportunity here to explore further learning with young readers about why what works for the other animals to get clean and spiffy, doesn't work for young duck (oily feathers, anyone?) The illustrations are fun and keep even very young ones intrigued. One little thing that the kiddos and I noticed was that donkey (mentioned early on cancelling a particular party game) isn't at the end event.
May 30, 2017
This is about duck's birthday party, but it is little duck who is the star of this book. The "walk on over to the Maple tree" line is repeated for the children to participate in reading aloud. Little duck wants to clean up as the other farm animals do, bit he ends up a mess.
teaching application- read aloud for a fun interactive story. The repetition in the story lends to this technique.
teaching application- read aloud for a fun interactive story. The repetition in the story lends to this technique.
December 23, 2019
It is Duckling's birthday, so the farm and the animals are tidying themselves up for the party! Duckling isn't sure how he should tidy up, so he tries all their methods!
The canceled games were a good chuckle, as is Duckling's appearance at the end (though may be parent's nightmare fuel). Also, good, accurate info on how different farm animals keep clean.
No content issues.
September 23, 2018
It's Little Duck's 1st birthday, and all the farm animals prepare for the surprise party, and head for the festivities under the maple tree. Little Duck watches their every move, and when the party starts, Little Duck is the biggest surprise of all.
May 7, 2019
This is an adorable book about a duckling's journey in copying the farm as they prepare themselves for Farmer Brown's birthday party. The narrative for each of the animals is hilarious.
Trait: Voice
AR: 2.4
DRA: 18
Trait: Voice
AR: 2.4
DRA: 18
February 16, 2020
It is Little Duck's birthday, and everyone gets ready for a party under the maple tree. Little Duck observes and then mimics how the other animals clean up and prepare. Very funny ending. Adorable illustrations.
May 18, 2017
A fun book to read before going to the farm today. Alena enjoyed it very much. I want to see what else this author has written.
June 8, 2017
Little Chick gets ready for his birthday like all the other animals, he rub-a-dub-dubs and snips snips. Good for birthday story time, or farm story time.
June 17, 2017
Like the other books in this series, this one is just as funny and adorable. The descriptive animal sounds and motions are sure to make this an interactive read-a-long for young kids.
June 26, 2017
More fun in the ongoing series about animals on the farm.
September 6, 2017
Awww, little duck is so cute and, no doubt, will grow up to be as mischievous as big duck!
September 13, 2017
Another fun book by Doreen Cronin.
October 5, 2017
Another adorable installment by the wonderful team of Cronin and Lewin. Little Duck wants to look his best for his birthday party.
December 5, 2017
Birthday Story Time. It's Baby Duck's birthday and the whole farm is invited to the party. When Baby Duck copies the other animals' party preparation, he finds himself in a mess.
January 5, 2018
Aside from being quite funny I appreciated the message of celebrating what makes each one of us unique.
June 11, 2018
Cronin knocks it out of the park again. The farm is getting ready for a birthday party. Games might be played, but everyone wants to look their best. Such a fun book.
August 24, 2018
I think i will read this for my bday storytime
Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews