Detective Duck: The Case of The Strange Splash by Henry Winkler & Lin Oliver

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Several years ago, I can't remember exactly when... (which led me to a Google search - it was 2003), I saw Henry Winkler - yes, THAT Henry Winkler - on a YouTube clip, talking about dyslexia and books. We all know he did TV and Film, but I didn't know he wrote books... children's books. Very Cool! It turns out he's written 36 books in four different series... plus a memoir, according to his Amazon author page. That's a whole lot of stories from one human... nevermind someone who deals with dyslexia challenges, too. Pretty remarkable!

I have dyscalcula (which is similar, but my challenge is numbers, not words), and I can't begin to imagine working with an equivelent stack of pages covered in numbers. I struggle with just one spreadsheet each year for my taxes!

So, as you might imagine, Henry Winkler's books immediately found their way to my TBR. Oh, wonderful TBR, that magical thing that provides adventures-in-waiting, that I'm most likely never going to complete before my last breath. I knew I'd get to his work eventually, but Indie Reads are my priority. So, Henry's work sat waiting with the literally hundreds of other Trad books on my list, until I have a few hours to sprinkle them into my reading time.

Until four days ago.

That's the day I discovered Henry Winkler's latest series is about a little duck who is a detective. Yes, I ordered the book, and Prime delivered it. Also, yes, it'll find a new home with a stack of other children's books on my great-nephew's bookshelves.

But of course, I read it first. After all, it's a book about a DUCK. And it's a really CUTE book, co-written by Lin Oliver, with wonderfully fun illustrations by Dan Santat.

The story is about a tiny little yellow duckling named Willow Feathers, who's father is a beaver... Beaver McBeaver, to be precise. They live in Dogwood Pond with lots of interesting neighbors... Sal the salamander, Snout the weasel, Harry the catfish, Flitter the Dragonfly, Tad the tadpole, Franny the frog, and Aaron the Heron. Together, they face what could be an alien invasion! Willow uses her keen skills of critical detective thinking and, with the help of each of her friend's special skills, she solves the case!

This is a wonderful story about how to think through a problem and take action, one step at a time, to find a good solution. I loved that the story was inclusive, representing an unusual father-daughter family, and teamwork from the entire neighborhood... or at least, most of them. The illustrations are bright and whimiscal, and already, I've fallen in love with Willow Feathers. Although, based on the cover art, there was little doubt.

So far, Mr. Winkler has written three books in the Detective Duck series, and yes, I'll be ordering the other two. After all, my nephew can always use more books, and recycling books is the responsible thing to do. 😊

I'll dive into Mr. Winkler's other stories, at some point, I'm sure... but, the duck stories come first. 🦆