Marjorie Flack, author
Kurt Wiese, illustrator
New York: Viking, 1933
31 pp.
Age: 2 +
Interests: birds, duck, river, China, boats
Ping is a little duck who lives with his large family on a houseboat on the Yangtze river. Every day the ducks waddle ashore and every evening they return to the boat when the Master of the boat calls them back. The duck who is the last to return gets a little spank with the switch. One day Ping doesn’t hear the call in time, and rather than get the spank he hides in the rushes. The next morning the boat is gone and Ping swims down the Yangtze, eager to explore. He is caught by a swimming boy, whose parents want to turn Ping into dinner, but the boy lets him go. Then he spots his boat and swims over just in time to waddle on board with the others… and this time he doesn’t mind getting the spank for being last.
A simple and charming tale about life on the river and the consequences of wandering. Ping’s separation is not too scary, Ping himself is never too upset, he simply sets off to find his boat again.
Rarest Kind of Best 