Duckie & Snaps: We Cannot Be Friends

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Author(s)

Ame Dyckman

Co-Authors / Illustrators

Tim Miller

Publisher

Orchard Books

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

February 04, 2025

ISBN

978-1338837872

Buy This Book

The antics will have you cracking up as the newly hatched Duckie, an enthusiastic yellow duckling, and Snaps, a rather reserved green crocodile, wonder if they can be friends.

After Duckie's egg rolls into Snaps' nest, they hatch, meet, and their friendship is off to a good start -- until they are told they CANNOT be friends because crocodiles EAT tasty duckies... and Duckie is a duckie! (Nobody ever told her!) Will Snaps defend his new friend... even when HE gets hungry himself?

Join hatchlings Duckie and Snaps on their hilarious and emotion-packed adventures as this dreamer-and-doer duo explore if they CAN be friends.

Duckie & Snaps: We Cannot Be Friends is chock-full of hysterical dialogue, energetic and detailed illustrations, big kid-like personalities, and lots of zany read-aloud fun!

Editor review

1 review

A new look at having friends for dinner

March 09, 2025 (Updated: July 01, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

A duck and a crocodile baby hatch at the same time, and the exuberant Duckie decides right away that she will be friends with Snaps. She says that they will play and explore the jungle together, but when Snaps father appears, he tells the two they cannot be friends. Why? Crocodiles eat duckies. Fried duckies, duckie smoothies, and duckie pies. This doesn't make Duckie happy, and she stomps off, telling Snaps that they cannot be friends. It's too quiet without her, so Snaps stands up to his father, a tiger, and even a passing butterfly, telling them all that there is to be no eating Duckie. Of course, when he gives his new friend a hug, his stomach rumbles. Luckily, they find a banana tree, and Snaps decides that the fruit is super tasty, so all is well.

Good Points

This story is just goofy enough that young readers will get a kick out of the refrain "We cannot be friends". Duckie and Snaps are an unlikely pair, thrown together by circumstances of birth, but warm to each other quickly. If you've ever watched toddlers meet for the first time at a playground and then be unwilling to part when it's time to go home, this precipitous pairing will make perfect sense. Because Snaps has just been born, he doesn't know that he is supposed to eat Duckie, so there is a deeper message about not judging people before getting to know them.

Miller's illustrations are reminiscent of Frank Asch's 1980s picture books, with bright primary solid colors, dark outlines, and simple shapes. I appreciated that the scenery, especially the banana tree, is fairly accurate, in the same way I appreciated that it is possible for crocodiles, tigers, and ducks to live in the same habitat! Even though the duck has a hair ribbon, and Snaps' dad has a bow tie, it's good to see accurate representation.

Readers who enjoy stories about unlikely friendship like Keiser's Bentley and Davis, Barclay's Sheep Dog and Sheep Sheep, Berry and Santoso's Penguin and Tiny Shrimp, and Muir's Cat and Bird will appreciate Duckie and Snaps friendship and look forward to perhaps seeing more adventures from them.