Pip and Zip

by Elana K. Arnold, Doug Salati (Illustrator)

A family finds two abandoned duck eggs and are in for a big (and very cute) surprise in this story for fans of LeUyen Pham's Outside Inside, from award-winning author Elana K. Arnold and charmingly illustrated by Doug Salati.

Once, when we all had to stay home for the whole long springtime,
When schools were closed
And work was closed
And everything fun was canceled,

Dad said, “Let’s take a walk.”

On this walk, the family discovers two abandoned duck eggs and takes them home to wait for them to hatch.
They read and learn and laugh and wait together until one day...

Pip and Zip are born!

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Birds, Nature, Childrens, Juvenile, Realistic Fiction

42 pages, Hardcover

First published August 23, 2022

About the author

ELANA K. ARNOLD writes books for and about children and teens. She holds a master’s degree in Creative Writing/Fiction from the University of California, Davis where she has taught Creative Writing and Adolescent Literature. Her most recent YA novel, DAMSEL, is a Printz Honor book, Her 2017 novel, WHAT GIRLS ARE MADE OF, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and her middle grade novel, A BOY CALLED BAT, is a Junior Library Guild Selection. A parent and educator living in Huntington Beach, California, Elana is a frequent speaker at schools, libraries, and writers’ conferences. Currently, Elana is the caretaker of seven pets, only three of which have fur. Sign up for her newsletter here: https://elanakarnold.us10.list-manage...

Reviews

[Ms. B]

Taking place during stay at home orders in 2020, two children bringing home two duck eggs to see if they will hatch. If you have been avoiding books that take place during 2020 because they're too depressing, this is the book for you. A sweet and hopeful story for the topsy-turvy upside down world we live in.

[Peacegal]

This is a charming book, with colorful, wonderfully detailed illustrations. A family discovers two abandoned mallard duck eggs floating in a local pond while taking a walk during the COVID-19 quarantine. With the help of their neighbor, a trained wildlife rehabilitator, they place the eggs in an incubator and--surprise--they hatch! The neighbor than takes over raising the ducklings to adulthood when they can be released back on the pond.

I loved that this book was based upon a true story; that the family put Pip and Zip's wellbeing first and passed them on to a professional wildlife rehabber instead of attempting to raise them without experience or turn these wild birds into pets; and the educational section at the book's conclusion.

[Mary]

A really nice story of how a family discovered two duck wild eggs, hatched them, and were able to return the ducks to the wild. This was done during the pandemic lock-down with the aid of a neighbor who had connections to a rescue group.
The best illustrations were the 2-page spread of swimming ducks and the 2-page spread of them flying.

[Katie Hutchison Irion]

Pip and Zip by Elana K. Arnold and Doug Salati is a story about two young ducks born during the pandemic. Based on an experience the author and her family had during the pandemic, this charming story is about a young family who finds two abandoned duck eggs while they are on a walk. Since this is during the pandemic, no nature centers are open, neither are zoos (and who knows if they’d take duck eggs anyway), so the family sets up a heat lamp and a warming station for the eggs and waits for them to hatch. They take good care of the eggs until finally the eggs hatch and then they give the ducklings to a neighbor who is really good with animals. The ducklings grow until they can survive on their own and then the family, and their neighbor, release the ducks back to the wild.

[Fatima Seraj Alam]

The times of lockdown isolation is still so fresh that even though it wasn’t explicitly mentioned, it brought back all the memories of that time. Towards the end, I loved the parallels of the ducklings flying away and the world coming out of lockdown and experiencing freedom.

[Alyssa Miller]

You know, I think this is probably the best book I've read that incorporates any aspect of the COVID-19 lockdown into the plot. Plus, ducklings 🥹🦆

[Tracie]

During the 2020 Covid-19 Safer at Home orders, author Elana K. Arnold and her family found two abandoned duck eggs near their home. Shelter in place orders prevented them from taking the eggs to a wildlife rescue. This fictionalized account of their adventure is an uplifting and heartwarming slice-of-pandemic-life, and a great read-aloud for animal lovers.

[Abigail]

Confined to their home during Covid-19 lockdowns in this engaging picture book from author Elana K. Arnold and illustrator Doug Salati, a family becomes bored and restless, and takes a walk in the park to relieve the tedium. Here they discover two abandoned duck eggs in the lake, and taking them home, place them in an incubator provided by their neighbor. With wildlife rehabilitation shelters only open in emergencies, they must try to hatch the eggs themselves, waiting and watching for the duckling to emerge...

Published in 2022 but set a little earlier, and based on something which happened in the author's family, Pip and Zip depicts that crazy time when the whole world was on lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and many of us were mostly homebound. Arnold captures the sense of tedium during that period, as well as the sense of waiting and watching, and highlights how important something as simple as getting out and taking a walk could be. While the cultural and historical settings is of interest here, so too is the narrative around Pip and Zip, and how the family takes good care of the eggs they find. With the note at the end emphasizing the importance of taking found eggs and animals to rehabilitators, this title would make an excellent addition to a unit on humane education, teaching how to behave responsibly and help wildlife. The accompanying illustrations, drawn in pencil and colored digitally, impressed me more in their animal depictions than human ones, which is consistent with my experience of Salati's artwork. Recommended to picture book readers looking for stories set during the Covid-19 pandemic and/or dealing with helping wildlife.

[Panda Incognito]

This picture book about wildlife rehabilitation is based on the author's personal experience of rescuing abandoned duck eggs with her family during the COVID-19 lockdown. The author's note at the end explains which parts of the story are true and which elements are fictional, and also warns people against attempting to rehabilitate animals on their own. They were able to do this because everything was shut down during the pandemic, and because they had guidance from experts.

The illustrations are cute and sweet, and this story will appeal to people looking for duck books and stories about rescuing animals. Also, the pandemic element is crucial to the story and doesn't feel tacked on to make a point, since the pandemic is why the family couldn't bring the eggs to the appropriate authorities and cared for them on their own. The details about everything being shut down and everyone staying at home will confuse young children who weren't born in 2020 or were too young to remember it, and the illustrations of people wearing masks may be puzzling as well, but this is a great animal story with enduring appeal beyond that cultural moment. Parents can also use it as a talking point to teach their kids about recent world history and their family's experiences during that time.

[Dawn Foster]

This book was written during the early days of the 'shelter in place' restrictions. The author had a good intentions of writing a children's book that doesn't say there is a pandemic but very sweetly introduces the story with phrasing like, "we all had to stay home" and "schools were closed and work was closed." The family then heads outside for a walk & they all wear masks & are happy to see people, from afar ( who all wear masks, too.)

But then the story goes into the family finding duck eggs, getting an incubator from the neighbor (without explaining what an incubator is) and eventually the eggs are hatched and so on.

I think the better story would have been focusing on the family who got bored staying in the house with each other & what it was like to venture out into their neighborhood. There's just way too much in this picture book & it loses its way.

[Matthew]

We all know what staying indoors for almost two years was like. For a lot of people, it was torture, but to others, it was a chance to do something different. And in this book, we see a family who gets so bored of being indoors that they decide to go for a walk, and on this walk, they come across two abandoned eggs. They take them home and wait, and wait, and wait for them to hatch. I'm one of the few people who probably thrived during the pandemic. I started to read more than I ever did in my entire life and joined many online groups and stayed connected in other ways, and got to know myself better, while everybody else seemed to not. This book is a cool example of people who took a bad experience, like the pandemic and turned it into something wonderful and appreciative of what the world does have to offer when you turn yourself around and discover new things. My rating - 4/5

[Katie]

A story of a family that finds two abandoned eggs during the begins of the Covid-19 outbreak.
It is pretty intense to think about those times again, that were so recent but also feel like a world away.
Other good Covid stories: The Longest Storm & While We Can't Hug: Mini Gift Edition

[Patricia N. McLaughlin]

This heartwarming story is based on the real-life experience of the author’s family after finding two abandoned duck eggs during the 2020 Covid-19 Safe at Home order, which beautifully weaves the hatching process with the waiting for the order to be lifted. Colorized pencil illustrations are well conceived and engaging, drawing readers into the action. The thoughtful Author’s Note includes the “real life” background story and helpful tips for what to do with unattended eggs or baby animals, plus links for more information about birds and birding.

[Janet]

This title received an extra star for the appended material stating that finding bird eggs and keeping them to hatch is not to be done. I liked the fact that the appended matter mentioned a wildlife rehabilitation which introduces a new career area to children.The story was well written and had a flow of word that would make for good reading aloud. Having read the illustrator’s other 2022 title, Hot Dog, I was pleased that this title was well illustrated also. Overall a peaceful and restful atmosphere to this title.

[Rose Rosetree]

This family saga includes kids and boredom and then a couple of eggs and then a big surprise.

The whole tale seems so real, so everyday, vacationey, down-home. While illustrations by Doug Salati are flat and simple, adding to the real-life quality.

My favorite line in the book was this: "the whole planet waited with us." But waited about what, for what? Just might be related to that aforementioned big surprise.

Hint: Here's to wet, sloppy webbed feet.

FIVE STARS TO Elana K. Arnold, author of this real-life adventure that originally happened during the 2020 Covid Pandemic.

[Pam]

Gentle story about a family during the Covid Stay at Home time. They finally get outside for a walk and find two eggs by the pond. They decide to borrow an incubator and hatch the eggs. Fortunately, their next door neighbor knows a lot about wildlife so tells them what to do at each step. After the ducks hatch, they live next door until they can fly. Readers see them return the pair to the pond and continue to visit when everyone can be outside again.
Lovely illustrations capture the variety of emotions.

[Thaz]

I think the book is a great depiction of how life truly was during Covid. However, I just wish they did two things:

1) focus solely on the theme of the first half of the book. It could have been about enjoying nature and finding new quirky things when bored.

2) Premised that there was no mother duck in sight taking care of the eggs. This could lead to kids just taking eggs when it’s not theirs yknow?

Other than that, the overlapping theme of patience for Covid and taking care of ducklings worked well but could have been executed better.

[Diane]

During the pandemic, a family finds a pair of duck eggs while on a walk outside. They bring them home and a helpful neighbor, who works with birds, gives the family an incubator. Sure enough, after quite a wait, the ducklings emerge from their eggs. And as the days passed, the family watched the ducklings turn into ducks and "learned what wings are for." The family releases the ducks into the wild.

Based on actual events.

[Ny]

Wow the pandemic flashbacks on this one! Sweet story about connection and nurturing than stands up even without the pandemic layer - and the pandemic layer is so very gently done. The children I read this to were babies during the stayhome times, so they had no personal memories about it and had questions and I had to figure out a gentle way to explain, but that was fine. I think it was a much more poignant story to me than to them, but still an enjoyable story to them.

[Bozhena Levine]

Thank you to the Roaring Book Press for the advanced electronic review copy of this wonderful book. This beautiful true story and illustrations describe a family finding 2 duck eggs on their walk during COVID. They proceed to take care of the eggs until they hatch and the ducklings grow big enough to be returned into the wild. I can’t wait to use this book with my students!

[Cindy Overcast]

Set during Covid and based on a true story, the book's theme of "waiting" follows two duck eggs that were found abandoned in a lake. The colorful drawings for the book were first drawn in pencil, then colored digitally. There are also some interesting author's notes and information with web links on animal rescue at the back of the book.

[Maria Rowe]

Very sweet story! A family finds two eggs during the 2020 pandemic and takes them home to hatch and releases the ducks in the wild when they are old enough. Based on a true story that happened to the author and her family! Very uplifting story with cheerful, colorful illustrations to match!

Materials used: “pencil and colored digitally”

Typeface used: Adobe Jenson Pro

[Anthony]

This story is based on a real life event that a family experienced during the time of the 2020 Covid-19 Safer at Home orders. A family finds two stray duck eggs, and keep them until they both hatch, and named the ducklings Pip and Zip.

[Jordan Shapiro]

The book was very sweet and brought up memories from Covid times where we didn’t know when it would be over and how to navigate things! The children learned how to let go of the ducklings, be patient, and creat bonds within family.

[Lindsay Lovejoy]

This book was great because it talked about a real experience that happened during COVID-19 that almost evrybody can relate to. I thought it did a good job capturing what it was like during that time.

[Kelly]

Cute story, love the details on the ducks, but the people illustration style isn't for me. I like that it's based on a true story, too, and gives some background.

[Lisa D]

Loved it! Cute book!

[LS Johnson]

What a great Covid-19 story, that really isn't.

[Liz Todd]

Covid historical narrative

[DiAnne Warfield]

Holt-Delhi library Preschool story time 11-15-2022