The Miracle of the Little Wooden Duck

Margaret Wild (author)

Dee Huxley (illustrator)

Working Title Press, Australia: 2010

ISBN: 9781921504129

Genre: picture book

Issues: friendship, freedom, imagination, love

Annie loves her little green wooden duck. She keeps it on her windowsill so that it can watch the world pass by. She longs for it to really be able to see, hear, speak – touch. But it's only made of wood. One night a great storm blows up and the little wooden duck is blown into a great adventure – an adventure that brings change... and a miracle.

Author of more than 70 children's books, Margaret Wild's best stories are those that explore the nature of human relationships and human needs. In The Miracle of the Little Wooden Duck Wild has once again captured that most powerful of human emotions – the need to share, to love and be loved in return. There is an old saying about how if you love something set it free and if it comes back to you it's yours to keep. Perhaps that's true, perhaps not, but Margaret Wild explores that idea in this heart-warming story.

Dee Huxley's illustrations – oil on oil paper – do a remarkable job of capturing the movement of the story from the static relationship between Annie and an object (the wooden duck) and the chaos of the storm, the moment of change. Suddenly the images are full of movement, drama, darker colours that capture fear and longing; the reunion of Annie and her duck is filled with light and colour, echoing their combined joy.

Together, Wild and Huxley have created a powerful, endearing story that will remind readers of the values of love in all its many hues.

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