Peep, Peep, Peep... Please Sleep! Click, Clack, Peep! by Doreen Cronin

Down on the Brown farm, there is spring anticipation in the air. The duck egg Farmer Brown ordered has come and it's about to hatch. The farm animals all wait with baited breath!

NOT A MOO!

NOT A CLUCK!

NOT AN OINK!

THEN... A CRACK!

First a crack, then a tiny wing, then a webbed foot, and finally, with a CRAA-AACK!, there's Baby Duck, with a helmet of shell still on her head!

Baby Duck is proud to be there, and she greets all the waiting animals.

"PEEP, PEEP, PEEP!"

This duckling has a healthy set of lungs and endless enthusiasm for communication. After a few hundred peeps, the farm animals are yawning and ready to settle down for the night. Farmer Brown is ready to turn in and call it a day, too. But this spring peeper is only just getting started.

"PEEP, PEEP, PEEP!
PEEP, PEEP, PEEP!
PEEP, PEEP, PEEP"

It looks like this newborn is prepared to make it an all-nighter. The bleary-eyed hens cluck a lullaby, the sheep quickly knits up a soft baby blanket, and the cows shut the barn door and lower their shades, Even the mice head for the hills, yawning all the way.

But as usual, it's Duck to the rescue, He cranks up Farmer's noisy but trusty tractor and drives back and forth around the field, with Baby Duck in his blankie on board.

Back and forth, to a PEEP, PEEP, PEEP! Around again. PEEP! PEEP! Even the tractor looks tired, as once more, Duck retraces his route, and Farmer Brown cringes in his bed, pillow over his head.

"PEEP.... SLEEP!

At last, there's not a peep and all get their sleep, in Doreen Cronin's latest in her fine and funny farm critter series, Click, Clack, Peep! (Atheneum Books, 2015). Kids will love to put their PEEPS into the story when this one is read aloud, while artist Betsy Lewin's bucolic illustrations extend the text with adorable rustic silliness that can't be beat. Another big hit in this popular series (which began with the best-selling Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type from this dynamic author/illustrator duo.

Other not-to-be-missed full-size picture books in this countryside series include Giggle, Giggle, Quack, Dooby Dooby Moo Thump, Quack, Moo: A Whacky Adventure, and Click, Clack, Boo!: A Tricky Treat.