Goose

A lonely little gosling leaves her loving adoptive woodchuck family, stumbles off of a cliff and learns that she can fly, and then flies home to be reunited with her family.

Kindergarten-Grade 3-On a dark, stormy night, an egg blows out of a goose's nest and rolls into a woodchuck's den. The woodchuck family happily accepts the baby goose that hatches, but no matter how they try, the little goose feels sad and different. It is only after she goes off into the world and accidentally falls off a cliff that she discovers that she can fly. So, she flies back to her adopted family secure in her uniqueness. Through its quiet, understated text and warm, rich illustrations, this reverse ugly-duckling story celebrates being different, but still being accepted. The book's layout and small format are particularly effective. Some of the paintings are done on double-page spreads, some consist of two or three panels to a page, and others are details of the larger picture that really zero in on the action, drawing readers' eyes and attention to a focal point. This is especially true when the egg rolls out of the nest during the storm and when the goose goes over the cliff. The text is spare, but through it and the vibrant artwork, a profound message is presented. Goose is well suited as a read-aloud for groups or a cozy one-on-one situation. The story is universal enough for preschoolers, but will be appreciated as well by older children. Pair it with Andersen's classic The Ugly Duckling.
Jane Claes, T. J. Lee Elementary School, Irving, TX
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The importance of accepting oneself and of appreciating differences in others is among the affirming messages in Bang's (The Paper Crane) deceptively simple tale, a kinder, gentler cousin of "The Ugly Duckling." Through spare but dynamic illustrations and minimal text, this small-format volume introduces a gosling raised by a family of woodchucks who teach her "all they thought a youngster should know," including how to dig, swim and avoid hunters. Much loved by her adoptive family members, the goose is nevertheless sad because she knows she is "different." No one can make her feel better, so she sets off "into the world to see what she could figure out by herself." Tumbling off a high cliff, the desolate creature discovers a hidden talent: she can fly. And she does-straight back to her woodchuck home. Like other passages here, the concluding sentence ("You know, that goose surprised everyone, especially herself") seems intentionally open-ended, leaving room for interpretation and inviting discussion on any number of issues, including adoption. A useful read-aloud, sized just right for a laptime one-on-one. All ages.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A hand-sized book holds a humorous tale of a goose raised by woodchucks. Bang (Chattanooga Sludge, p. 444, etc.) begins: ``On a dreadfully dark and stormy night, an egg was blown right out of its nest.'' The goose egg rolls into a deep dark hole and lands in a den of woodchucks where it hatches. The woodchucks raise the goose as one of their own and try to teach it what a woodchuck should know, with some success. The still-earthbound goose, however, sets off into the world to find out what more there is, falls off a cliff, and discovers she can fly. Bang makes intriguing use of perspective, multiple images, frames, and borders. In the first pages, white, gray, and aqua images are painted across black backgrounds, with rain pelting down in and out of the frame; the trunk of a wind-bent tree is in the border, with its branches the focus of the picture. Elsewhere, the egg rolls right out of the frame and lands on the next page. Other pictures look like snapshots from the woodchuck family album, with a formal portrait as well as tiny, candid shots of the goose and siblings digging, moving logs, grazing, and swimming. Children will scrutinize every illustration carefully, taking pleasure from the innumerable discoveries therein. (Picture book. 5-8) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 3^-8. With affection and rising excitement, Bang tells the archetypal story of leaving home, and every frame in her small picture book expresses the variety and connection and astonishment of the story. The telling is simple and lovely, not one word too many. "On a dreadfully dark and stormy night" an egg rolls out of a nest and lands in a woodchucks' den, where a baby goose hatches (and bursts through the frame of the picture). The woodchuck family adores Goose, and she learns from them what they know. But she feels different and lonely, so she sets out to see what she can figure out. Sadder and sadder, she climbs a steep cliff, loses her footing, and falls: "she flailed and flapped her wings and found out--she could FLY!" And then there's a wonderfully unexpected surprise. In the usual Ugly Duckling^-type story, such as the popular Stellaluna (1993), the displaced little foundling finds her biological mother; here, Goose flies home to the loving woodchuck family that raised her.

Bang's animals are exquisitely drawn, both fragile and sturdy. They aren't anthropomorphized, except in occasional playful touches, as when the woodchucks and Goose stand stiffly together as if posed for a family photo. Only one page with four little snapshot frames is too crowded and blurry. Otherwise, the changing perspectives of woods, stream, and sky combine dramatically with close-ups of a woodchuck's face, a single leaf, a feather. On the first reading, kids will want to rush to the end to find out what happens, but they'll ask for this story again, and then they'll stop and see that Goose is different and so is every individual thing--and they belong together. Hazel Rochman