ADORABLE. ( )

Theodora and Chad find that the odd friends are the best ones. Loved the illustrations and the little asides of text. ( )

Cute story about two duck friends that appreciate each other's oddness and create a valuable friendship. ( )

Theodora is a normal duck. She does her morning laps with a cup of tea on her head to maintain her posture, eats her duck food with mango salsa, reads books that haven’t been checked out from the library in years, and didn’t travel south for the winter with the other ducks, but there was nothing strange about all of that. Her new neighbor, Chad, however, is an odd duck. He is just not the kind of duck that she wants to spend time with. She looks forward to winter when he will fly south, but he doesn’t leave. During that winter, Theodora learns that she and Chad have a lot more in common that she would have guessed. When they get into a fight about who is the most odd, they decide that in spite of their oddness, they like each other just the way they are.

Odd Duck is a fun story with a great message. The illustrator includes a lot of side notes and comments to talk about what is happening, adding to the vocabulary that children can learn while reading the book. These little touches also add a lot of heart to the book. Readers can learn both not to say hurtful things, but also the bigger message of finding things in common instead of differences to make friendships. The message is not too didactic, and the fun duck characters feel real and relatable. The graphic novel, picture book hybrid with six short chapters is a great format for young readers or for read-aloud situations. This style can help those who want to read more advanced chapter books with illustrations, but aren’t ready for them yet. Readers will enjoy Theodora and how she learns that sometimes differences are a good thing. ( )

Theodora and Chad are both unique ducks who come across each other one day. Each has their own quirks such as Theodora carrying a teacup on her head or Chad's dyed feathers, making them certainly stand out amongst others. Throughout the book, we learn about Theodora's routined life and about Chad's laid back attitude, which results in the unique kind of friendship that we are all searching for.