Waiting in the Wings

by Julie Andrews (Author) Eg Keller (Illustrator)

Waiting in the Wings
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

Inspired by a true event, the tale of a duck family waiting in the wings for their moment in the spotlight--from the #1 bestselling mother-daughter team of musical icon Julie Andrews and author Emma Walton Hamilton!

Mr. and Mrs. Puddleduck have found the perfect place to nest: a cozy planter by a theater in a sunny seaside village. While Mrs. P is warming the eggs, Mr. P is drawn to the spellbinding songs, fabulous, feathered costumes, and dazzling dances he's secretly watching during rehearsals. He's even showing off some fancy new footwork to Mrs. P! But it turns out he's been learning much more than how to put on a show. When the chicks begin hatching right by the roadside, it takes a chorus line of parading performers--and Mr. P's clever choreography--to come to the rescue!

From the bestselling mother-daughter team musical icon Julie Andrews and author Emma Walton Hamilton comes a delightful story inspired by the true tale of ducklings who stopped traffic and charmed a community, all the way to their splashy grand finale!

Select format:
Hardcover
$18.99

Booklist

The imaginative, digital illustrations will draw children to this appealing picture book. “Bravo!”

Kirkus Reviews

Adorable, enchanting, and very ducky indeed.

Publishers Weekly

Per a creators' note, nesting ducks at a Long Island community theater inspired Andrews and Walton Hamilton's latest high-spirited collaboration. Looking for a safe place to lay eggs, Mr. and Mrs. Puddleduck "waddled and toddled... pottered and padded" around town before settling into flower box outside a lively theater. While Mrs. P protects the nest, Mr. P ventures into the building, watching feather-fan-waving performers whose "spellbinding story, with sensational songs and dazzling dances" inspires his enthusiastic, and noticeable, response. But when the hatched ducklings' arrival upstages Mr. P's dramatics, performers and Puddleducks alike must herd the hatchlings safely to the water in a "fabulous, feathered finale." Alliterative prose and over-the-top humor render a lively farce, while Keller's texture-rich digital artwork presents spindly human figures of various skin tones with expressions and body language that elevate the story's high-kicking energy. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)

Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

Praise for The First Notes:

* "A charming collaboration that strikes just the right notes." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* "Gentle yet expressive illustrations pay tribute to these accomplishments with square patterns, illuminated manuscripts, and other cultural details from the time period. Note-able, indeed!" —Booklist, starred review

"Andrews and Hamilton's step-by-step prose, and Fedele's colored pencil, gouache, and watercolor illustrations of vibrant Italian landscapes...successfully combine to evoke strong emotions around Guido's eventual success." —Publishers Weekly
Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews has a legendary career that encompasses the Broadway and London stages, as well as multiple films, television shows, album releases, concert tours, directing assignments, and the world of children's publishing. In 2000 the title of Dame Commander of the British Empire was bestowed upon her by Queen Elizabeth II for lifetime achievements in the arts and humanities. She was married to film director Blake Edwards for forty-one years, and the couple have five children, ten grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. She invites you to visit her online at @julieandrews on both Instagram and Twitter.

Emma Walton Hamilton is an award-winning writer, producer, and arts educator. Together with her mother, Julie Andrews, she has written over thirty-five books for children and young adults, including the New York Times bestselling Very Fairy Princess series, Waiting in the Wings, and The First Notes: The Story of Do, Re, Mi. Her first book of poetry, Door to Door, was published in 2022. Emma is a longtime faculty member of Stony Brook University's MFA in Creative Writing and invites you to visit her online at @ewhamilton on both Instagram and Twitter.

EG Keller is the illustrator of many books, including the New York Times #1 bestseller A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo and Bravo star Emilia Bechrakis Serhant's To the Moon and Back for You. He also wrote and illustrated Murray Christmas and Please Please the Bees, which won the 2017 Frances and Wesley Bock Book Award. He lives in Denver, Colorado and invites you to visit him online at egkellerdraws.com or @egkellerdraws on Instagram.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780316283083
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date
April 20, 2024
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV019000 - Juvenile Fiction | Humorous Stories
JUV051000 - Juvenile Fiction | Imagination & Play
JUV013060 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Parents
JUV031000 - Juvenile Fiction | Performing Arts | General
JUV002280 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Ducks, Geese, Etc.
Library of Congress categories
Infancy
Picture books
Ducks
Theater
Animal fiction

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