Reviewed by Lois J Wickstrom for Readers' Favorite

Blessed with Ducks by Tristan Mowrey is a delightful story about being stuck at home, and discovering a mama mallard has made a nest in their flower garden. At first, Tristan documented Mama Mallard, whom he names Molly. He took a picture of her in her nest. He took pictures of the ever-growing number of eggs she left in her nest when she flew away to get food. Then the exciting part started. A cat scared Molly Mallard away. Tristan and his wife took over as volunteer duck parents. They bought an incubator at a farm store. They rotated the eggs. They took pictures as the eggs cracked, and the ducklings hatched. Then the fun began. They researched everything they’d need to know on the Internet before they fed the baby ducks. They taught them about water. They let them stay in their home when the weather was cold and let them out when the weather was warm. When they were ready, they released their duck babies into the wild.

This is a truly endearing tale of a couple who took care of mallard eggs that would not have hatched without their care. I enjoyed seeing how they came to love their ducklings. It was a treat reading about the pleasure they took in their adopted ducklings' growth steps. The pictures capture the best moments – even the Mohawk feather-dos the ducks get while learning to swim, and “candling” with a flashlight to see if the eggs were hatching. I highly recommend this book to anyone curious about baby ducks. Tristan Mowrey’s Blessed with Ducks will help readers appreciate not just ducks, but more importantly how people and ducks can become friends.