Prodigal Duckling: Waddle, Waddle, Quack, Quack, Quack by Barbara Ann Skalak

In a lush, lakeside nest five little wild ducklings hatch under their mother's watchful eyes:

Broken eggshells fall away.
Five new ducklings start their day.
Bobble, wobble, testing legs,
The world is big outside their eggs!

Small feet racing, go, go, GO!
Chasing Mama, don't be slow.
Hawks swoop low, then circle high.
Walk with Mama, stay close by!

The small ones follow Mama bravely into the lake for their first swim and taste of pond weeds, "heads down, rear ends up," until a sudden thunder storm rolls over the lake.

Big waves grow, going's tough.
Which way back? The lake's too rough.

Lost, one little duckling takes refuge on shore, traipsing through a flower-strewn meadow, peeping into a woodchuck's burrow, searching behind rocks and trees, and eventually wandering back to the lake, "through the shallows, to the deep; calling, "Ma-ma, peep, peep, peep."

At last the little lost duckling finds his mother and the other four babies, and the little family hurries home to their safe nest, where the babies preen themselves and snuggle down next to Mama for their first night's sleep outside the egg.

Moon climbs in her bed of black.
"Sweet dreams," says Mama."Quack, quack, quack."

Waddle, Waddle, Quack, Quack, Quack brings together first-time author Barbara Ann Skalak with the noted nature illustrator Sylvia Long, whose gorgeous sepia ink and watercolor illustrations flow across double-page spreads to tell this ducky adventure tale in a most satisfying way. Even better, pair it with Nancy Tafuri's Have You Seen My Duckling? for a dandy ducky duo.