Pip watches from the grassy bank as his red umbrella floats upside down like a bowl in the rainy pond. Across the water, a mother duck stands with her ducklings on the small island.

A LITTLE WORLD AWAITS

Pip and the Umbrella Boat

Get comfy, come a little closer, and let a new adventure unfold.

3 min read6 pages

Read together or listen along, a page at a time

The best stories are the ones we share.

Read the whole story

Pip and the Umbrella Boat

In heavy rain, Pip, a small brown duck, sits in his nest under a large red umbrella and looks across a pond at four yellow ducklings huddled on a grassy island. Stepping stones are submerged beneath the rippling water.

Pip was a small brown duck who lived beside a pond. Next to his nest stood a round red umbrella. On sunny days, it made cool shade. On rainy days, it made a snug roof.

One morning, rain plopped hard on the pond. Pip peeked out and saw ducklings huddled on a little grassy island. The stepping stones between the island and the shore had disappeared under the water.

“Quack!” called their mother from the bank. “Stay close together!”

Pip wanted to help. He tugged a long reed, but it bent and sprang away. He pushed a floating log, but it would not budge. Then a gust of wind caught his red umbrella. Whoosh! It flipped inside out and bobbed on the pond like a big round bowl.

Pip blinked. “That could be a boat!”

Pip sits inside the upside-down red umbrella floating on the rainy pond and holds its curved handle. His empty woven nest rests on the green bank behind him.

He pulled the umbrella from its stand and set it upside down on the water. It floated gently. Pip climbed inside and gripped the curved handle. Rain tapped on the red cloth around him.

Pip waits in the red umbrella boat beside a grassy island, holding out a wing as the smallest yellow duckling steps aboard. Three other ducklings wait nearby.

The umbrella boat drifted to the island. “One at a time,” said Pip. The smallest duckling stepped in first. Then another. Soon the little boat was filled with soft yellow feathers.

Pip paddles with his webbed feet behind a red umbrella boat filled with yellow ducklings. Water splashes around the boat as it heads toward the bright green shore.

Pip paddled with his webbed feet. Splash, splash. The boat wobbled, but it did not tip. At last, it bumped softly against the shore.

After the rain, Pip stands beside his nest beneath the open red umbrella. Nearby, a large brown mother duck spreads her wings around four yellow ducklings beside the sunny pond.

The ducklings hurried to their mother. She tucked each one under her wings. Pip shook the rain from his feathers and looked at his upside-down umbrella.

The rain stopped. A bright patch of sky opened above the pond. Pip turned the umbrella right side up and put it beside his nest. It was a roof, a shade, and, whenever the pond needed one, a very good red boat.