Background Info

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About the book: Edward loves his pet duck more than anything. He raised it as a baby, and now it follows him everywhere even to the big fancy Peabody Hotel in Memphis where he works with his father. Everyone at the Peabody loves to watch the duck do tricks as it waddles up and down in time to a John Philip Sousa march, which is why Edward decides to name it John Philip. But one day the hotel owner finds John Philip Duck in his lobby water fountain and he is NOT amused. Edward decides that he needs to figure out a way to make the hotel owner happy and allow John Philip Duck to stay at the hotel.

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About the author: Patricia Polacco's childhood was spent at her grandmother's farm in Union City, Michigan, the setting for many of her published stories. Patricia's parents got divorced when she was three, and she and her brother spent their early life living in two places: school years with their father and grandparents in Oakland, CA, and summers with their mother and grandparents on a farm in Michigan. Patricia had a very difficult time in school and did not learn to read until she was nearly fourteen. In junior high school, one of her teachers finally discovered that dyslexia was the reason for her difficulties. She currently lives in Union City, where she writes and illustrates her books.

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