捣蛋鸭 Mischievous Duck (Set of 5)

This sweet and silly chapter book series tells the story of two friends with opposite personalities (a mischievous duck and a worrywart named Dodsworth 多兹) as they travel together to world-famous cities. 

Join their hilarious adventures from New York to Paris, London, Rome, and Tokyo, and learn about cultures, customs, and landmarks around the world.

Why we love this set

• Funny moments sprinkled throughout - kids who enjoy Elephant and Piggie by Mo Willems and friendship stories would likely enjoy this series.

• Appeals to cheekiness in kids - The duck is rule-bending and a bit of a handful, while Dodsworth is the one sighing and cleaning up. Kids who see a bit of themselves in the “troublemaker” duck would likely take it all in and keep on reading!

• Real-life geography, history, culture, landmarks and local food are weaved into the story naturally - it got us curious! Sometimes we’d end up walking up from where we were sitting, to check out the world map in our living room. We’d ask, where’s Rome again? Is Japan part of Asia?

• Genuinely enjoyable for adults too - I did not mind re-reading these with different combos of my kids! (:

• Introduces us to the concept of transliteration, which is using the characters of a language to mimic the sounds of another language My primary schooler was tickled that the duck says 阿里嘎多 for Arigato, transliterated from ありがとう, meaning “thank you” in Japanese. It’s funny because a duck quacks 嘎嘎嘎!

• Simple but descriptive vocabulary with conversational tone and thoughtful formatting of text spacing to maximise readability! (This is super friendly for our second language learners!)
  eg
  火车轰隆隆一路向前，
  钻过大桥，翻过高山，
  穿过广阔的森林和平原。
  就这样，多兹开始了伟大的冒险。
  
  鸭子站在凳子上，开始大声唱：
  ”烤饼烤饼软乎乎，
  飞到天上扑噜噜~“
  “啊！千万别！”多兹嘟囔。
   

Pro-tips from MST:

• Read a book, then follow-up with a real-life video! We pull up YouTube clips of the actual landmarks or the iconic modes of transportation that show up in the stories - London's red double-deckers, New York's yellow cabs, Japan's rickshaws. A quick video suffices, making the city click in their minds even if we haven’t visited it before.

• Grab some food that we see in the books! Eat sushi after reading about Tokyo, gelato after Rome, apple pie after London, or popcorn after New York. You don't necessarily need to cook - even a supermarket or dapao-ed version does the job.

• Keep a world map or globe within reach, if you have one!

MST Conversation starters:

• The duck took coins from the Trevi Fountain because they had no money left. Was that okay? What else could they have done?

• What do you think people are wishing for when they throw a coin in?

• If you could visit one of these five cities, which one and why?

• Would you rather travel with someone like the duck, or someone like Dodsworth?

Titles included:

• 捣蛋鸭游世界名城：纽约 Mischievious Duck in New York

• 捣蛋鸭游世界名城：巴黎 Mischievious Duck in Paris

• 捣蛋鸭游世界名城：伦敦 Mischievious Duck in London

• 捣蛋鸭游世界名城：罗马 Mischievious Duck in Rome

• 捣蛋鸭游世界名城：东京 Mischievious Duck in Tokyo

Recommended age: 5-10 years and up
No. of books: 5
Format: Paperback
Language: Simplified Chinese
Author & Illustrator: Tim Egan 蒂姆·伊根
Translator: 邢培健