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Duck for President    by Doreen Cronin & Betsy Lewin Amazon.com order for
Duck for President
by Doreen Cronin
Order:  USA  Can
Simon & Schuster, 2004 (2004)
Hardcover
* * *   Reviewed by J. A. Kaszuba Locke

Well known for children's bestseller Click, Clack, Moo, Doreen Cronin and illustrator Betsy Lewin bring another delight to the toddler audience in the sparkling Duck for President.

It opens on Duck mowing the lawn as he watches an airplane overhead with a trailing banner marked 'VOTE'. Each page thereafter is whimsically treated by Lewin with characters sketched in mute-toned patches of color, outlined in black. The tale's star is 'Duck', who lives on Farmer Brown's farm. Hard-working Farmer Brown ends each day covered in feathers, hay, and stains of all kinds. All of the farm animals, who are assigned daily chores, like 'Cows -- weed the garden', are also covered with dirt at day's end.

Duck dislikes chores and decides there should be a farm election. Spotting the sign, an upset Farmer Brown goes to the barn. There he sees all of the animals registering to vote, even the mice! Farm Election Day arrives with the vote count of Duck 21 and F. Brown 6. But when Duck wins the election, he finds out that being in charge of a farm is not an easy job. Then Duck decides to run for governor. His campaign includes speaking to other ducks, and riding in parades. Duck wins the election by a narrow margin of two votes! And he learns that the job of governor is also hard work.

So, Duck decides to run for president. He kisses babies, and plays the saxophone on a night-time television show. Duck wins the presidency by 15 votes, and finds that the president's job is not easy either. Checking out the help wanted ads in the newspaper, he sees a job posting for 'Duck Needed'. I'm sure you can guess where he ends up. Eye-catching illustrations and a remarkably witty story make Duck for President a quality read.

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