LGS Prep – Look! It's Baby Duck (Cambridge Red Band Reader) 2027-28

Look! It's Baby Duck by Gabby Pritchard is a cheerful reader in which two mice find out that a fluffy yellow duckling can do many things, including surprising them when they get too close. It is a Cambridge Reading Adventures Red band reader, it is shown on the LGS Prep list on this site, and it is a lovely way for five-year-olds to practise reading with expression in the 2027-28 session.

Exams Book House, Shop Number 4, Al Fazal Market, Urdu Bazar, Lahore, supplies it with cash on delivery across Pakistan and delivery to the Gulf countries.

Quick facts

• Title on the cover: Look! it's Baby Duck · "Red band" label
• Author: Gabby Pritchard · the cover also credits Lucy Boden
• Series and publisher: Cambridge Reading Adventures, Cambridge University Press
• Cover picture: a yellow duckling with an orange beak and feet paddling on blue water
• Shown on: LGS Prep, and in School Readers → Cambridge
• Age: about 5 years
• Session: 2027-28

What happens in the book

Brown Mouse and Grey Mouse spot Baby Duck and wonder what he can do. They take turns telling each other: "The baby duck can walk," said Grey Mouse. The pattern is simple and repeats, but the text has little changes along the way, and one of them is a switch from "said" to "shouted", which makes children look carefully at the print.

By page 12 the mice are not hiding any more, and a question mark appears when they ask what they want to know. The pages carry up to three lines of text each, and bold words and punctuation tell the reader when to put in feeling. That is the main skill of this book: reading in phrases with the right voice.

Words to practise

• Often repeated: said, can, Look, He.
• Punctuation to notice: the exclamation mark in the title and on pages 2 and 3, quotation marks around what the mice say, and a question mark on page 12.

What your child practises

According to the teaching notes, a child who reads this book can:

1. work out simple words by blending sounds from left to right and check that they make sense;
2. find and read high-frequency words;
3. show understanding of the parts of a story;
4. begin to read in phrases while keeping track of the print.

Reading it together, step by step

1. Give your child the book and read the title. Say: Grey Mouse and Brown Mouse can see Baby Duck, they want to see what he can do. Will he play with them?
2. Open the cover, find the title page and turn to the first page together.
3. On pages 2 and 3, read "Look! It's a baby duck" with surprise in your voice and ask your child to copy you.
4. On pages 4 and 6, notice the speech marks and take turns reading "The baby duck can walk," said Grey Mouse.
5. On page 12, ask why the mice are not hiding any more and what the question mark is for.

Fun things to do afterwards

• Move like Baby Duck. Follow instructions to walk, jump, hop and run.
• My baby photos. Look at photographs of your child as a baby, toddler and young child and talk about what has changed.
• Voices. Read the mice's words in two different voices, one for Grey Mouse and one for Brown Mouse.
• Pond visit. If possible, watch ducks at a pond or on a farm and say what they can do.

About the Red band

Red band is the stage where children move from pointing at every word to following the line with their eyes, reading short phrases together instead of one word at a time.

Who, when, where and why

• Who: Prep children of about five, with a parent or teacher.
• When: during the 2027-28 session, with plenty of expression.
• Where: at school, at home, and by a pond if you can.
• Why: to practise reading with phrasing and feeling in a funny story.
• How: take turns reading, copy the voice, then read alone.

Questions to ask while you read

1. What do the two mice think when they first see Baby Duck?
2. What can Baby Duck do that the mice cannot?
3. Why are the mice hiding at the start, and why do they stop?
4. How can you tell from the page that someone is shouting?
5. If you could meet Baby Duck, what would you ask him to do?

A tip for parents: read the mice's lines in two different voices, a deep one for Grey Mouse and a squeaky one for Brown Mouse. When your child takes over a voice, they are already reading in character, which is the best early practice in reading with expression.

Is it on the LGS Prep list for 2027-28?

It is shown under LGS Prep on this site. LGS campuses use almost the same lists, but a few follow their own for some subjects. Please send your campus and class on WhatsApp so we can confirm the title.

Other readers to look at

• Bedtime on the Farm, another Red band reader for Prep.
• Leela Can Skate, a Pink B step below.

Buy it in Urdu Bazar, Lahore

• Shop: Exams Book House, Shop Number 4, Al Fazal Market, Urdu Bazar, Lahore 54000
• Urdu Bazar Lahore book shop number: 0317 4846676 (call or WhatsApp)
• Open: Monday to Saturday, 9 AM – 9 PM; closed on Sunday
• Delivery: all over Pakistan with cash on delivery, and to the Gulf countries

People also search for this book as

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Frequently asked questions

Is Look! It's Baby Duck on the LGS Prep list for 2027-28?

It is shown under LGS Prep on this site. Send your campus and class on WhatsApp so we can confirm the title.

Who are the characters?

Brown Mouse, Grey Mouse and Baby Duck.

How many lines of text are on a page?

Up to three, according to the teaching notes.

Who illustrated it?

Lucy Boden is credited on the cover.

Do you deliver outside Lahore?

Yes, all over Pakistan with cash on delivery, and to the Gulf countries. WhatsApp 0317 4846676.

Inside the book — contents and sample pages