Love Is
by Diane Adams
A tender lyric picture book that defines love through the small daily acts of caring for a baby duckling
The story
A young girl finds a baby duckling and brings it home. Across thirty-two pages of quiet rhyming verse and warm digital illustrations, she cares for the fragile creature through midnight feedings, peaceful sleep, messy bath times, and growing days. As the duckling matures, she senses it is ready for a bigger pond — and the book becomes a meditation on what love means when love includes letting go. Diane Adams writes in the lullaby register of the very best read-aloud picture books, and Claire Keane (whose development art shaped Tangled and Frozen) gives every spread a tender warmth.
Age verdict
Best for ages 4-6, but it grows with a child up to about 8 and works for younger listeners with an attentive adult.
Our take
A quiet lyric picture book that earns more love from grown-ups than from giggly kids — strong on emotional craft, writing quality, and read-aloud power, light on humor and playground currency.
What stands out
Each audience's top 3 dimensions. Out of 30 scored per book.
Kids love
- Heart-punch Strong
The release-and-return arc delivers a complete emotional cycle in 32 pages, and the spread about getting to the edge and hoping is one of the most quietly devastating moments in an
- Ending satisfaction Strong
Something Wonky This Way Comes . Match: The closing image of love that has lasted and grown some too elevates the whole book — it lands the circular structure with a reunion that feels earned rather than easy.
Parents love
- Writing quality Strong
Diane Adams' verse is unforced, with internal rhyme and steady meter, and lines like 'It's understanding even ducklings, like the seasons, have to change' achieve the lullaby regis
- Emotional sophistication Strong
The book moves a young reader through attachment, anticipation of loss, grief, and the joy of reunion, naming the bittersweet emotion of healthy letting go in a way most picture bo
Teachers love
- Read-aloud power Strong
Strong read-aloud — the rhyming verse is designed to be heard, the meter is steady, and the emotional arc lands cleanly in a single sitting.
- Writing prompt potential Strong
The 'Love is...' frame is an immediate, scaffolded writing prompt for any age — students can write their own definition-by-enactment poem with no further prep.
✓ Perfect for
- • Bedtime read-aloud for ages 3-6
- • Children who love baby-animal stories
- • Parents looking for a gentle conversation starter about pets, wildlife, or growing up
- • Early-elementary classrooms exploring rhyming verse, parallel structure, or social-emotional themes
Not ideal for
Children who want fast-paced humor, adventure, or strong narrative plot. This is a quiet, lyric book for kids (and grown-ups) who love slow and tender stories.
At a glance
- Pages
- 36
- Chapters
- 5
- Words
- 0k
- Difficulty
- Easy
- POV
- Third Person Omniscient
- Illustration
- Fully Illustrated
- Published
- 2017
- Publisher
- Chronicle Books
- Illustrator
- Claire Keane
- ISBN
- 9781452143712
Mood & style
You'll know it worked when…
If your child asks to read it again the same night, or if you find yourself unexpectedly tearing up at the release spread, this book has done its work.
More like this
Same genre, similar age range. Ranked by kid score.
Want more picks like this?
Get 5 hand-picked book reviews for your child's age — one email a month.