Ever since the Duckling first appeared in The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!, Pigeon has felt gypped. Why does cute little Duckling get everything all the time? It's simply not fair.
Here Duckling proves to have a few tricks tucked under her feathers. Along comes Duckling (scooty scoot scoot!). She bats her big blue eye and asks politely, "Hello! May I have a cookie, please?" A cookie appears from out of the sky. "Thanks!" she says with a flappy flip flap! Her joyful flight-dance scatters a few of her yellow feathers. But then, bursting into the picture from stage left is... the Pigeon. "Hey! How did you get that cookie!?" The large, bold type suggests the power of Pigeon's delivery. In smaller, quieter type, the Duckling replies, "I asked for it.... Politely."
Mo Willems once again proves that a roll of the eyes, a half-drawn eyelid and body posture can convey a great deal of emotion. The pigeon's eyelid at half-mast as he says, "You asked for it..." telegraphs, "Come on!" With that, he kicks off a litany of things in cartoon panels that Pigeon fans will be able to recite by heart ("I ask to drive the bus! I ask for hot dog parties!... I've asked for a walrus!"). Then, "Right now, I'm asking,... Why? WHY? WHY?" As usual, Pigeon works himself into a tizzy, and we won't tell how Duckling deflates his hot air.
But we reveal that she gets the last laugh--who says nice guys finish last? This is Mo Willems at his best. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness