Peep and the Big Wide World: Diva Duck

PreS-Gr 3—What do you get when you combine an egotistical duck, a timid robin, and a peace-loving yellow chick? Quack, Chirp, and Peep in deceptively simple adventures. The peppy music, bright colors, and basic shapes are all aimed directly at a young audience, yet adults will find much here to raise a chortle. Each episode is about 10 minutes long and includes an adventure with the feathered friends, followed by a live-action segment extending important concepts. In the eight episodes, viewers will groan at Quack's self-centered musical antics, cheer for Chirp's risk-taking, and delight in Peep's problem-solving skills. These are all wrapped up in an appealing, heartwarming naiveté. Viewers will also learn about soap, codes, the phases of the moon, and testing things out to see if they are true—the kind of scientific exploration that comes naturally to children. The music will delight the young, but adults will catch the Broadway references and giggle. Both will roll their eyes at misunderstandings and want to share the correct answers as the characters fumble their way to them. Narrator Joan Cusack uses her comic skills with élan, and the writing is remarkably clever—making all the characters lovable despite, or perhaps because of, their foibles. Good humor is hard to write, and the kind that can reach this wide an age range is rare, indeed. This is fantastic viewing for the whole family.—Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary, Federal Way, WA