Duck for President

Based on popular children's author Doreen Cronin and illustrator Betsy Lewin's 2003 Duck for President, amiably narrated by Randy Travis, with toe-tapping music by Scotty Huff and Robert Reynolds, this third animated adaptation featuring Farmer Brown and his hilarious farm animals (the first two were Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type [VL-3/02] and Giggle, Giggle, Quack [VL-5/04]) finds perennial troublemaker Duck unhappy with his assigned chores of mowing the lawn and grinding the coffee beans. Convinced that the grass is indeed greener on the other side, he informs Farmer Brown that he should be in charge, and campaigning on a platform promising "a kinder, gentler farm, " runs against his boss in a farm-animal-voter election…and wins. But running a farm turns out to be much harder than Duck anticipated, so he shifts his sights--first entering the Governor's race (slogan: "Vote for Me. I'm a Duck, Not a Politician"), which he handily wins (only to discover that running a state is much harder than he anticipated), and then President (slogan: "The Duck Stops Here"). I won't reveal the wonderfully satisfying conclusion of this winning little morality tale about greed and ambition, but I will say that children will take to this like, well, a duck to water, and adults will get a kick out of all the sly election year humor. An ALA-ALSC 2005 Notable Children's Video, this is highly recommended. Aud: K, E, P. (R. Pitman)