Marie finds it difficult to accept the fact that her grandfather, Poppa, is too old to winter in his cabin as he always has, and must now go south for his health. To comfort her, Poppa asks Marie to help him finish making one of his famous decoys. Poppa gives the finished carving to Marie as a gift and they put it on the lake to see it float. When a flock of real ducks passes over, Marie loses sight of her decoy and the gift is lost. Moments after, a single duck flies away and Marie is convinced that her bird has flown to join the rest.

Anne Carter’s writing is a little awkward at times. In fact, at first I thought she was trying to show that English was not Poppa’s native language. As the daughter of a decoy carver myself, I also found it difficult to accept that anyone would place such a detailed carving in the water, but the plot hinges on this event so the adult reader must suspend this disbelief. Carter does capture the special bond that can exist between granddaughter and grandfather with all the nuanced detail of real life, and that is this story’s great strength. Kasia Charko’s pointillist illustrations are worked in a muted palette of late autumn colours that perfectly matches the subdued tone of the text, with its underlying melancholy and subtle hint of timely death. This is a book that grandparents may choose for their grandchildren, but I suspect adults will buy it for elderly parents as well.