A Visit to Syrup Creek
Making New Friends
by
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When J .R. and his family returned home to Syrup Creek, the blue duck saw a family of green ducks floating along in the water, “Those ducks look different from us. They sound different. I don’t understand them, and they frighten me. I want to them go away.”
Grandmama Blue duck swam over to J.R. and waved her wing, “Quack, quack, these neighbors were afraid of us. I stopped to speak with them and learned we can become good neighbors.”
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About the Book
Many of us like things the way they are. We hesitate to accept any kind of change or difference. When things are always the same, we feel safe. As much as we may dread change--change is all around us--whether we like it or not.
Toni W. Heller’s A Visit to Syrup Creek: Making New Friends tells the story of what happens when change comes to Syrup Creek. J. R. is a young blue duck. He and his blue duck family live on Syrup Creek. When they return to their home, they are surprised to find green ducks living on their creek. J. R. is upset at these new ducks because they don’t look or sound like him and his family. Discover how J. R. and the other blue ducks eventually overcome fear and suspicion and welcome the family of green ducks to Syrup Creek.
The lessons learned in A Visit to Syrup Creek: Making New Friends are relevant to the human world as well. Heller provides discussion suggestions to guide you in talking to your children about discrimination. Through the story and discussion questions, children will learn change is not always something to fear.
About the Author
Toni W. Heller is a graduate of the University of Maryland and the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University. She was an educator with an anti-prejudice, human-relations program, and a pediatric clinical-specialist nurse. Her two children were raised amid the bedlam of parenting, professional work, and volunteering. She has four grandsons.