One Duck

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

One duck. One crow. One farmer. This is the cast of players in this
little drama, which is set in a wheat field. The duck, a female mallard,
sits on her nest of 12 eggs, which is hidden in the tall grass in the
middle of the field. The farmer, intent on preparing the field for
seeding, sits on the seat of his tractor as he pulls a soil-turning
cultivator in an ever-diminishing circle around the duck nest. The crow
is looking for breakfast. He has spotted both the duck and the farmer
and knows that if the farmer can scare the duck away from the nest, he
will be having fresh eggs for breakfast.

Hazel Hutchins’s text is written as open verse. A typical passage
reads: “One duck / on twelve eggs. / She hears the tractor / stretches
her long neck to see what can be seen / feels an uneasiness she cannot
explain. / Watches. / Waits.” The tension builds slowly and steadily
as the farmer and his merciless farm machinery draw ever closer to the
hidden nest. The crow, although harboring murderous intent, supplies
comic relief. He is pure greed and opportunism personified. The farmer
and the duck are more complex characters—creatures of the land so
caught up in their own business that tragedy nearly results when their
paths finally cross. Fortunately, Hutchins delivers a happy ending.

Lovely, swirling, earth-tone illustrations by veteran children’s
illustrator, Ruth Ohi, are reminiscent of a Van Gogh wheat field.
Recommended.