Little Goose

April 1, 2009
PreS-Gr 1-Little Goose is reminded by balls, puddles, bubbles, and even the letter "O" of something that makes his eyes go round and round and evokes in him feelings of comfort and coziness. But just what do they remind him of? With his mother's encouragement and support, the gosling braves the big world to find out. While he meets new friends on his adventure, it isn't until he returns home to her warm embrace that he knows the answer. Soft colored-pencil illustrations fill the spreads with gentle images of the natural world, while the words provide reassuring repetition and rhyme. This is a perfect bedtime story for young readers, who will cheer Little Goose on through his quest and rejoice at his reunion with his mother."Kim T. Ha, Elkridge Branch Library, MD"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2009
Grades K-1 Its hard to imagine a cozier story. Little Goose, a yellow gosling with a penchant for things that roll (balls, marbles, the number 8, the letter O), is trying to figure out whythe concept of round is so comforting. Following a tried-and-true plot, the young animal moves along the beach to ask a series of amiable animals to solve his dilemma. Turtlenotes his round rock makes him happybut Little Goose just falls off. Frog says take a look atthe flies zipping around in a circular fashionbut they just make Little Goose dizzy. Finally the gosling returns to his mother, where he finds that it is her embracing wings (not an egg, which some readers may predict) that he finds so wonderful. Idealistically rendered in whisper-soft pencil, the book has an old-fashioned appeal;except for one zany spread of Little Goose crammed into a mouse hole, the perspectives are kept as regular and soothing as the text. Occasional words in boldfacelike Little Gooses refrain of Hoinkle-oinkle!make this a fun read-aloud option.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2009
Pebbles, bubbles, and buckets remind Little Goose of something that makes him happy, but what? To find out, he takes a tour around the pond, ending up back in his mother's encircling wings, and he remembers: round things call to mind Mother's hugs. Expressive colored-pencil illustrations highlighting Little Goose's interactions with the pond dwellers make this otherwise sentimental tale worth sharing one-on-one.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)