Waddell and Barton, whose previous book was A Pig in a Pond (1992), now turn their attention to ducks. Mommy Duck lays an egg, and Duckling is surprised on two fronts: he learns that there's a baby duck in the egg, and that he was once in an egg himself. Grandpa, aunt, and cousin come to look over the egg, and each adds a little more information to Duckling's knowledge of his egg days. How did he ever fit into an egg? "You were much smaller then." In the last few spreads, children see the new egg rolling and cracking, and when the baby finally emerges, "it's quacking time at the lake." The story is slight and a bit repetitive, as is the art, which uses an almost identical landscape in each spread. Ducks from Barton's familiar Baby Duck series are taken down a notch here to seem, well, more ducklike, but they are still endearing. The brevity of the text, which is filled with plenty of quacking, makes this a good choice for story hours. Ilene Cooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved