Alexander's outing by Pamela Allen

What a joy - a favourite book of some 30 years, reappears on our shelves as a strongly bound board book. Alexander’s adventures will be enjoyed by many children as they see the little duckling and his siblings and Mum go for a walk in Sydney.

With the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background, the ducklings take their first steps outside the park where they live.

Stay close, take care, Mum calls as they pass the bottle tree and go through the gates along the Art Gallery Road. But Alexander does not hear her instructions and lags behind. A man halts the traffic as they march across College Street, but once on the other side Mum realises that Alexander is missing. Mum and his siblings call out and hear a distant quack coming from a drain in the road. Alexander is at the bottom of the drain and despite the efforts of several passers by, no one can reach him. Lots of people stop to see what is going on and offer their support, but no one can work out how to get Alexander out of his predicament. A child’s dropped drink gives them a clue. A group of people tip out the contents of their picnic and take the containers to the Archibald Fountain. Here they dance along and fill the containers, taking them back to pour down the opening, and eventually the hole is filled with water, allowing Alexander to hop out. All sorts of soft happy quacking and flapping occurs welcoming the little duck back into the family, so they retrace their steps back home to the safety of their park.

This wonderful story will engage readers with the story on so many levels. They will be anxious about Alexander’s predicament, join in all the happy words describing the people with their water containers, skip along with Mum and the sibling as they return to safety, learn about following Mum’s instructors and what might happen if they are disobeyed, and see what happens when people join together to solve a problem.

And the illustrations are just wonderful full of humour and movement as the ducks find their way into an adventure and out again.

Sydney is seen in the background, and children will delight in recognising streets and places they know. This wonderful story will be read again and again.

Themes: Ducks, Sydney, Adventure, Humour, Family.

Fran Knight