Vote for Duck

It’s hard to know where best to place this sidelong look at the U.S. political process – the third of Cronin and Lewin’s highly praised modern farmyard fables. The story of a duck seeking to escape farmyard chores who eventually ends up as President is carefully structured to keep the attention of children to whom voting is still a mystery. Cronin gives it a folksy rhythm, in which, as Duck makes his inexorable progress, election after election takes a similar, but always slightly different, course: campaign, vote, and the recount, which always finds one or more ‘sticky ballots’ hidden where they shouldn’t be. While Cronin and Lewin provide an entertaining children’s introduction to democracy, they also make an affectionate commentary on the myths and realities of American politics for worldly-wise adults. Duck defeats an incumbent Governor who resembles Hilary Clinton, and one of Duck’s vote winning ploys is to play saxophone on late night TV shows. Lewin’s illustrations (reminiscent of the great Jules Feiffer) work seamlessly with the story, using both slapstick and more subtle characterisation, and acknowledging familiar images from TV and the movies. I loved the dramatic scene where Duck, facing away from the reader, broods on the cares of state in a sombre blue Oval Office.