No Hurry to Hatch: Shelly by Margie Palatini

"Shelly was not ready."

In this recent offering by picture book humorist Margie Palatini, Shelly is a boy duckling who really is unwilling to come out of his shell. His three precocious sisters, Adelaide, Miranda, and Tallulah, have barely popped their shells when they become proficient at roller blading, portrait painting, and ballet. The big sisters are impatient with Shelly's progress, or lack thereof. Shelly's legs stick out of the bottom half of his shell, and he wears the top half of the shell like a helmet, peering through squarish eye holes like a Humpty Dumpty with webbed feet.

"He's fine," said Father. "Wait and see."

"He's taking his time," said Mother.

Although his accelerated sisters conscientiously provide plenty of learning experiences for the developmentally delayed duckling--playgrounds, picnics, paints, pirouette practice--Shelly stays resolutely stuck inside his shell. Finally the impatient sisters shove off to do their own thing outside, and then--"it's SHELLYTIME!"

With the playroom all to himself, Shelly doffs his eggshell helmet and proceeds to make a sofa cushion fort, play Go Fish with his bunny, put together puzzles, read books, and create an architectural masterpiece out of his blocks. Finally he paints a door sign--"NO SISTERS ALLOWED!"

When the go-go girls return, Shelly has just enough time to pop his shell back over his head and play dumb. "When will you be ready?" the sisters insist.

"Wednesday," says Shelly.

He just wasn't ready to say which Wednesday.

Palatini's Shelly should resonate with younger siblings who are perpetually outdone or dominated by older or more precocious sisters or brothers. The illustrations by Guy Francis are comic without making our reluctant duckling into a dunce, adding much to Palatini's always witty text. This book works well with Robert Kraus' evergreen tale of Leo the Late Bloomer, whose shy, introverted ways help him to bloom perfectly in his own good time.