Five little ducks

Two charming additions to the popular singer's ""Song[s] to Read,"" with music (melody plus chords) as well as the entire texts given on the last pages. In a simple counting song for the youngest, the brightly colored, stylized illustrations show the little ducks disappearing one by one in nicely varied terrain; the mystery of where they're going is solved at the end when--after the passage of winter, shown only in the illustrations--they all come back with families of their own, in graduated sizes that reinforce the number concept. In the second entry, Tingalayo is a donkey in a catchy calypso song. With vigorous black line and colors that evoke the Caribbean setting, Duke shows the comically mischievous donkey going much too fast or slow, sneaking off to a carnival, and even going on a nighttime boat ride before returning to his master. Fine, imaginative expansions of the songs, these also stand confidently on their own as picture books. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.