2026 Autumn Sprout Pack - Issue No. 3

Some picture books get funny before they get profound. A crocodile hatches in a duck nest, grows up waddling, quacking, and eating like a duck, then suddenly meets creatures who insist he should be something else. That strange little setup is what gives Gooji Gooji its staying power.

For Issue No. 3 of the 2026 Autumn Sprout Pack, the featured “Duck House Story” is Chen Zhiyuan’s beloved work from Taiwan. Known in English as Guji Guji or Gooji Gooji, the book is playful on the surface and quietly wise underneath. It gives children an odd, funny animal story, while giving adults a chance to talk about identity, belonging, choice, and what makes a family real.

Why this book belongs in the Autumn Sprout Pack

Autumn is a season of change. Leaves turn. Classrooms settle into rhythm. Children begin to notice new roles, new groups, and new expectations. A story like Gooji Gooji fits that mood beautifully because it asks a question children understand right away:

Who am I when others tell me what I am supposed to be?

The book does not answer with a lecture. It answers with a crocodile who thinks he is a duck.

That is the charm. Gooji Gooji does not begin his life with a crisis. He grows up loved. He plays with his duck siblings, follows Mother Duck, and accepts his place in the family. Nothing about him seems tragic or broken. The humor comes from the obvious mismatch, but the emotion comes from how ordinary his life feels.

Children often enjoy the silliness first. A crocodile doing duck things is enough to make the room lean in. Adults may notice something deeper. Chen Zhiyuan lets the reader see that Gooji Gooji’s family is strange only if someone outside the family decides it is strange.

That matters. Many children live in families, classrooms, and communities where people do not all look alike, speak the same way, learn at the same pace, or follow the same path. This story treats difference with a light touch. It never turns Gooji Gooji into a lesson object. He is simply the hero of his own tale.

The story in simple terms

The story begins when a crocodile egg rolls into a duck nest. Mother Duck does not know the egg is different. She keeps it warm with the others. When the eggs hatch, one of the babies is clearly not like the rest. He has a long snout, a scaly body, and crocodile teeth. Still, Mother Duck raises him as one of her own.

Gooji Gooji grows up as a duck. He learns the family routines. He joins the ducklings in daily life. His difference is visible, but inside the duck house, it does not stop him from belonging.

Then he meets crocodiles.

These crocodiles see him and decide they know what he is. To them, Gooji Gooji is not a duck. He is a crocodile, and crocodiles are supposed to eat ducks. They try to pull him away from the family that raised him. They give him a role and expect him to step into it.