Artist’s depiction of the Core2s10 duck…
April 6, 2010Angela Speakman’s duck:
Discussions of ecology and composition in Core2s10 led to the creation and reused example of an author telling the story of a duck. Funny as it was, the simple example actually helped us discover many more ecological factors influencing our own writing.
The author created a yellow duck. Why yellow? Ducklings, ducks in their infant stage, are yellow. Are fully grown ducks yellow? American kids are raised with the rubber ducky in the bath tub – a yellow one. Coloring books and toddler-age reading teach our children colors. There’s often a duck, if not already yellow, prompting the child to color it yellow. Our culture accepts the yellow duck and so, Angela Speakman’s duck is yellow.
This duck stands in the water and watches Angela Speakman’s car whiz by. The duck stands because every duck that Angela grew up watching and loving – Donald, Ducky, Plucky, Daffy – have stood.
Someone from Australia might tell the story of a duck looking a little more like this, as this is what an Australian would define as a “duck:”
Australian Wood Duck
