The Quacken

by Justin Colón, Pablo Pino (Illustrator)

Overview

Fans of The Bad Seed and Creepy Carrots will flock to this hilarious, lightly spooky picture book about a boy who unwittingly unleashes a ferociously fuzzy beast on his campground!

Lurking in the lake at Cucumonga Campground is a fearsome and frightening creature. Legend says that it swallows kids, canoes, and even whales whole. But all Hector sees are cute, cuddly, quacking ducks. Until he breaks the campground’s most important rule—Don’t Feed the Ducks—and releases…the Quacken.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781665922494
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	07/16/2024
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	14 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Justin Colón is a professional actor and children's book author. His previous picture books include The Quacken (illustrated by Pablo Pino) and Impossible Possums, (illustrated by James Rey Sanchez). A lover of Halloween and zombie movies, Justin is also a backyard beekeeper. Though his bees sometimes frighten the neighbors, they’ve never tried to eat their brains—something Justin takes great pride in. He lives in New York, but you can visit him at JustinColonBooks.com.

Pablo Pino was born in August 1981 in Buenos Aries, Argentina. He grew up watching cartoons, playing football, and drawing a lot. These days, he doesn’t watch as much TV and only plays football once a week, but still has the joy of painting every day because for the last ten years, he’s been working as a professional illustrator for different print media. What he enjoys the most is illustrating books for children and teenagers. In addition to illustrating almost fifty books, Pablo also does character designs and board games and collaborates on designs for schoolbooks and magazines with various worldwide publishing companies. He is self-taught and his illustrations are mostly computer drawn, but he always adds textures that he makes with pencils, crayons, acrylics, and pretty much any material that lets him gets messy like when he was child.

Editorial Reviews

"A fun, suspenseful story about a legendary creature who is equal parts eerie and entertaining."

Jessie Sima

A goofy celebration of silly scares.

BCCB

A hilariously over-the-top read-aloud...Pitch-perfect tension and delightful silliness.

Kirkus Reviews

"Legend has it there’s a new campfire tale in town, one to thrill and delight generations for ages, and they call it...THE QUACKEN."

Antwan Eady

Debut author Colón and Pino (Pumpkin Day at the Zoo) mix broad spoofs of horror tropes...with the silly extravagance and tight pacing of an 11-minute cartoon. And when a gag both comical and literal finally saves Hector, the story proves itself to be all in good fun, resulting in a lighthearted vibe that’s nothing to quack at.

Publishers Weekly

2024-04-20
The legend of a giant, dangerous duck at Cucumonga Campground looms large.

Young Hector and his family are on vacation. Everything seems pleasant except for the many objects that have gone missing and the warnings Hector keeps receiving. Everyone tells him not to interact with the ducks. Don’t go near them, don’t look at them, and absolutely, positively, do not feed them. To further emphasize the point, “DO NOT FEED THE DUCKS” signs pop up every few feet at the campground. So what does Hector do? He feeds the ducks. They just look so cute and hungry. Amid the many feathers flapping, a large, foreboding shadow suddenly crosses the lake. Colón builds suspense through short, clipped narration. The weather turns ominous, and people flee in terror—it’s…THE QUACKEN! The fearsome, colossal wildfowl has appeared! It’s always one step ahead of Hector until there is no escape. Hector is popped into the duck’s bill like a delicious morsel. But, luckily for Hector, “children taste terrible.” Reminiscent of old, cheesy horror films, this tale will make a hilariously over-the-top read-aloud. Pino ramps up the drama in his illustrations, alternating full-page spreads with graphic novel–like panels and vignettes. Hector and his family are brown-skinned, while other campers are racially diverse.

Pitch-perfect tension and delightful silliness. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews