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Cover of children's book 'Duck Goes Meow', featuring an illustration of a little yellow duck.
Illustration of a big orange yak, with a little yellow duck sitting on its head
Interior page of children's book 'Duck Goes Meow,' illustrated by Carla Martell. Image show a dog, a cow and a hen.
Illustration of a little yellow duck lying on its back, saying Meow.
Illustration of a small yellow duck in the top left corner of a bright green background. Speech bubble with hand lettering saying 'meow.'
Illustration of a smiling blue cat, from children's book 'Duck Goes Meow.'

Duck Goes Meow

This story, written by Wellington-based author Juliette MacIver, was based on the real-life, furry feathered friendship of a mother cat who adopted a little duck as one of her kittens.

 

Woof! says Dog. Moo! says Cow. Cluck! says Hen, and Duck Goes … meow. A little yellow duckling is amongst animal friends who are all sure of the sounds they make: hiss, neigh, moo, cheep, cluck and oink. But when Duck goes ‘meow’, the other animals say no, that is wrong, try again … then Duck’s mama arrives, and boy, do they get a surprise!

 

After reading the story and watching the original video, I was inspired to make the animals into silly noisy know-it-alls! I also hand-lettered the animal sounds to make them sound even noisier and more opinionated.

I set out to make the illustrations very simple and colourful – which may sound easy but was a challenge, as attention to every tiny detail was important in giving each animal a distinct character. I also had a good time drawing multiple cats (any opportunity to draw a cat, I’m always trying to sneak them into the books I’m illustrating).

 

Since winning Best Picture Book in the 2023 New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults, the adventures of our plucky little ducky have been translated into Dutch and German, and were recently released as a board book for very small readers. Even better, there’s now a sequel: How to be a Cat, published in 2024.

 

PRESS & VIDEOS
Interview with Juliette MacIver and Carla Martell
Suzy Cato reads ‘Duck Goes Meow’
Flemish sign language video of ‘Duck Goes Meow’

 

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