Duck in the Fridge

“Daddy, why do you always read me Mother Goose before bed?” a boy asks. The answer takes his father back to when he was a boy, and an extraordinary evening that starts with the discovery of a smart-aleck duck in the refrigerator and devolves into an rambunctious, multispecies pizza party and punfest. “Who’s going to pay for all this?” Kid Dad asks frantically as pizzas arrive. “Just put it on my bill,” quips the duck. Totally let down by the adult establishment (calling 1-800-Duck-B-Gone just brings more pizza-crazed, TV-watching animals), Kid Dad hits on a plan that centers on a book of Mother Goose, which enthralls the assembled crowd (“How did she fit all of those kids inside one tiny shoe?” asks a duck, amazed). Silly chaos isn’t easy to choreograph, but Mack makes it look easy with his boldly outlined, broadly comic cartooning. His bespectacled, eager, and frazzled hero, who may remind adult readers of Mr. Peabody’s Sherman, is instantly likeable. An ideal follow-up for kids who loved Peggy Rathmann’s 10 Minutes to Bedtime. Ages 3–7. (Sept.)