Welcome to Storyline Online, brought to you by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation.
I'm Kristen Bell, and today I will be reading "Quackenstein Hatches a Family,"
written by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen and illustrated by Brian T. Jones.
In the darkest corner of the zoo There stood a gloomy shack.
A nearby scrawl read "Keep out all!! Just leave me be! Signed, Quack"
Most creatures lived In packs and herds,
In gaggles, bloats, and litters.
But all alone There on his own
Poor Quackenstein grew bitter.
He was the hermit of the zoo And faced a lonely struggle.
"It isn't fair! My nest is bare!"
He had no one to snuggle.
Quack passed the nursery one day, Where babies laughed and tumbled.
"Everyone has some someone, Except for me," he mumbled.
He spied a small, secluded nook. On impulse, he proceeded.
He bumped his head. "A sign!" It read:
Orphaned eggs, homes needed.
Quack hatched a plan and crept ahead. This duck would not be stopped.
On shaky legs, He chose an egg
And cackled: I'll adopt!
Quack set it on his empty nest. He kept his prize protected.
He'd gently coo, "Dear ducky-poo,
You'll never be neglected!"
Then on one dark and stormy night, The hour had arrived.
Quack heard a crack-- He stumbled back
And shouted: It's alive!
Just then a small beak broke the shell! Quack's heart thumped in his chest,
But then two paws With sharp, curved claws
Thrust through and stabbed the nest.
"I've hatched... a monster! You're no duck," Quack screeched, and went quite pale.
The thing had fur And legs with spurs
And some poor beaver's tail.
The creature lurched. Quack gasped, "Stay back!"
The beast paid him no heed.
Quack tried to hide. He ran outside,
Alarmed and rubber-kneed.
Quack shrieked and sprightly dove behind Some logs out on the water.
But Quack got pushed And saw he'd smushed
An angry romp of otters.
Drenched, the poor duck ducked behind A mama heron reading.
Her babies screamed. The thing's claws gleamed.
It leered and kept proceeding.
Quack shushed the rowdy heron hedge. But birds just ran off blind.
They fled in shock Toward cuddling crocs--
Soon all were intertwined.
Quack rashly rushed and promptly crushed A hugging husk of hares.
"My fault!" Quack cried, But then he spied
The monster's chilling glare.
So quickly Quack hid in a cave, But there he'd made an error.
A furry shape Blocked his escape.
"I'm trapped!" he screeched in terror.
The thing then snarled, "Oh, there you are!" It stalked the trembling fowl.
With sharp claws bared And shoulders squared,
It leaped in with a growl!
Its paws soon squeezed the cringing duck, And Quack thought, "This is BAD!"
His spirit broke When someone spoke--
The thing said: Hello Dad!
Quack could feel his cold heart melt, And how his stomach fluttered.
"You chased me through The great big zoo
To be with me?" he sputtered.
The creature beamed, "Yes, Daddy, yes!" Quack's heart began to sing.
"Come, son," he squawked, And off they walked,
In step, and paw in wing.
Then in the corner of the zoo That once housed Quackenstein,
A space was cleared And there appeared
A shiny brand-new sign.
"Welcome to our happy home. Come by to visit us. Love, Quack" it read.
Below, it said: "And his son, Platypus."
The end.
I chose this book because I really like the rhyming,
I really like the language, the big words,
but more importantly, I love that Quack felt lonely and he decided to solve his problem
by adopting one of these eggs that didn't have a family.
And even though he was initially scared, because the platypus that came out of the egg looked different than him,
he eventually realized that it was the perfect way to make a family for himself,
and realized that he needed that platypus just as much as the platypus needed him.
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