Duck! Rabbit!, written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal with cartoonish illustrations by Tom Lichtenheld, is a clever book for kids ages four to eight that presents an argument between two off-page interlocutors over which of the two seemingly quite different animals is depicted throughout the book. In most of the book's two-page spreads the object of their argument is shown with illustrative extras designed to push each position; a piece of bread is held up to the "bill" to show that it is a duck (the ears of the rabbit) while a carrot is held up to the rabbit's "nose" (the back of the duck's head) and it is the simultaneous depiction of this evidence that makes the book funny and transgressive for a young child.

Then again, your child might have an opinion about what the creature "really" is. After we'd read this book several times, Z asked me, "Why does that guy think it's a duck when it's really a rabbit?" That was just as fun, though, because then I got to play "duck advocate" and we ended up just reciting the book as a team.

Here's a sample from it, read (well, memorized) by Z herself:


You can pick up Duck! Rabbit! on Amazon for under $12, or over 30% off the cover price. - Jeremiah