The Singing
Duck
by Luka Berman
illustrated by Gary R. Phillips
Fiction
[Link]
ISBN-13: 978-0-325-01666-5
ISBN-10: 0-325-01666-6
Book 82
Level I
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The Singing Duck
Author: Luka Berman
Heinemann
361 Hanover Street
Portsmouth, NH 03801–3912
[Link]
Offices and agents throughout the world
Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention Books
Copyright © 2009 by Irene C. Fountas, Gay Su Pinnell, and Heinemann
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic
or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission
in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be mailed to the Permissions
Department at Heinemann, 361 Hanover Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801.
ISBN-13: 978-0-325-01666-5 ISBN-10: 0-325-01666-6
Editorial Development, Design, and Production by Brown Publishing Network
Credits
Illustrations: Gary R. Phillips
Printed in China
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The Singing Duck
by Luka Berman
illustrated by Gary R. Phillips
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Once there was a little duck. He liked his webbed feet.
He was very happy They helped him swim
to be a duck. as fast as a fish.
He liked being a duck. He liked his sleek feathers.
They helped him stay warm
when he got wet.
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He liked his duck bill. “Why can’t ducks sing
It helped him catch bugs like other birds?”
and other good things to eat. the duck asked his mother.
“All we do is quack,
But there was one thing quack, quack!”
the little duck didn’t like.
He didn’t like his quack.
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“Quack!” said his mother. So the duck left his pond.
“Quack, quack, quack!” He waddled down a path
on his webbed feet.
“I want to make music,” He waddled under the trees.
the duck said to himself.
“Maybe I can learn to sing!” Bird songs filled the air.
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The duck saw a bluebird “Hello, bird!” said the duck.
in a bush. “I like your song.
“Tweet-tweet-tweet!” Will you teach me to sing?”
sang the bird.
“Tweet-tweet-tweet!” The bluebird looked
at the duck.
“Well, thank you,” she said.
Tweet-tweet-tweet!
“But why do you want to sing?
You’re a duck! Ducks quack.”
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“I don’t want to quack,” “Tweet-tweet-tweet!” she sang.
said the duck sadly. “Now you try it!”
“I want to make music.
Please teach me to sing.”
Tweet-tweet-tweet!
The bluebird was a kind bird.
She wanted to help
the little duck.
“All right,” said the bluebird.
She lifted her head.
She opened her beak wide.
She began to sing.
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The duck lifted his head. “Well,” said the bird.
He opened his duck bill wide. “I see I was wrong.
He began to sing. Ducks can sing!
I have never heard a duck
“Quack! Quack! Quack!” he sang. sing as well as you!”
“Quack, quack, quack, quack!”
That was quite true,
Quack! Quack! Quack!
because the bluebird
had never heard a duck
sing at all.
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“Are you sure?” asked the duck. “Thank you, thank you!”
“Was I really singing? quacked the duck.
It sounded like quacking to me.” He waddled back to the pond
as fast as his webbed feet
“I’m sure you were singing,” could carry him.
said the bird.
“You were happy and
you were singing.
Your quack is your song.”
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And from then on,
the duck loved everything
about being a duck.
Quack! Quack!
Quack!
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