LULU AND THE DUCK IN THE PARK by Hilary McKay

I read this aloud to my six-year-old daughter after we read and loved LULU AND THE DOG FROM THE SEA. This is actually the first in the series. McKay has created the perfect series for young animal lovers. Lulu's adventures with a duck egg she rescues in the park were just as delightful as her encounters with the dog on her family's beach vacation. In this book, a distressing loose dog incident while Lulu's class is at the park results in smashed duck eggs everywhere. Lulu finds one intact egg and smuggles it back to class. Her teacher doesn't share her fondness for animals and makes the threat that if one more animal is brought into the classroom, the class guinea pig will be swapped for another class's stick insects. So Lulu is in a quandary; she cannot abandon the egg, but she fears getting caught and losing the class guinea pig.

Lulu is a sweet child who wants to help animals, and her care of the duck egg is charming. The somewhat traumatic event at the beginning of the book gives way to a perfect resolution.

My review of LULU AND THE DOG FROM THE SEA is right here.

Source disclosure: I received an e-galley of this title from the publisher.