Yuck! Stuck in the Muck by Corinne Demas, illustrated by Laura Rader.

Released in May 2006.

This is an beginning reader that has a nice sense of humor as well as a good plotline that is easy for early readers to follow.  It is the story of a dog that chases a duck into the swamp and gets caught in the mud.  One after another, animals and people try to save the dog, but each one ends up getting stuck too.  They are finally all saved by a helicopter that hoists them out.

I actually enjoyed the unexpected arrival of the helicopter.  It broke the rhyming pattern of the book, which is good for young readers, and it added some high tech interest.  The ending where the duck nests in the stuck truck is satisfying as well.