#365PictureBooks 2. Marmaduke Duck on the Wide Blue Seas by Juliette MacIver, illustrated by Sarah Davis

MacIver, J. (2014). Marmaduke Duck on the Wide Blue Seas. Auckland, New Zealand: Scholastic.

ISBN: 9781775431251
Pages: 40
Age Level: Early Childhood 0-6
Genre: Picture Storybook / NZ Fiction
Rating: 5 stars


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Marmaduke Duck is back in his third rollicking adventure.  This time he is bold, he is brave, he is a Dare Devil Duck!  

He decides that life running his sweet shop with Bernadette Bear is a bit boring so he packs up his cart full of marmalade jam and leave for a life of adventure.  He buys a ship and sets sail with a crew made up of a rat, a dog, a cat, a llama, a lamb and a big black Bull.  What could possibly go wrong???

MacIver's (sometimes tongue twisting) rhyme follows a classic format with a catchy rhythm - dah dah dah DAH dah dah dah dah DAH (or something like that!)  It's a great read aloud and will cause much delight and laughter - especially when you trip over your tongue trying to keep to the rhythm ;-)

Davis's illustrations in a soft water colour palette add beautifully to MacIver's rhyme.  The expressions of the characters faces and their postures clearly capture Marmaduke Duck and his crew's adventures and enhance the story.  This is truly a case of the text and the illustrations combining to make the 'whole' book so much better than the 'individual components', which on their own are bloody marvelous!

Throughout the scenes of Marmaduke's adventure on the high seas you see glimpses of Bernadette Bear on her own journey to find Marmaduke.  They make for their own text-less story, which I must admit I completely missed on my first couple of readings (I was more interested in the rollicking rhyme and the main images!)

This is another great book by Juliette MacIver and well worth adding to your collection.

I got my copy of Marmaduke Duck on the Wide Blue Seas from the Taradale Primary School library where I work. 

You can find a copy at Napier Libraries.