A Paddling of Ducks: Animals in Groups from A to Z
By Marjorie Blain Parker, illustrated by Joseph Kelly
There are just so many wonderful alphabet books available for children that it is easy to skip some by thinking they might not be that engaging. A Paddling of Ducks should not be skipped because it has names for animal groups from A to Z, and children find these names delightful and almost like riddles or jokes. The other day on a radio show, there was a trivia quiz question about the name for a group of leopards. Did you know a group of leopards is a leap? This book has one name for each letter of the alphabet but I know there are more such names that could be found. The illustrations are beautiful and humorous, such as fish wearing graduation hats underwater. This book mentions “an ostentation of peacocks” for P, but children may also know about “a pod of whales.” Maybe this book would just be the start of a long list of animal group names. This would be a great book to take on a car trip, reading it at the beginning, seeing how many group names are learned before arriving back home, and noting how many of the animals are seen along the way.
Free: A Paddling of Ducks work page A to Z PDF The photos are below, without an answer sheet because it would be a complete copy of the book which wouldn’t be nice or legal!
