responce to Goose

Goose
Molly Bang
animal fantasy
Book Wholesalers, Incorporated (2008)
K-3
Goose is a children's picture book about a goose who while still unhatched in an egg, rolled out of it's nest and into a woodchuck den. The woodchuck family welcomes the goose and raises it as if it were a woodchuck. The woodchucks teach the goose all of the skills a woodchuck would need to know to survive such as, burrowing, swimming, and building a damn. Even though the woodchucks loved the goose and treated her like the same as an of the other young woodchucks, she felt different. She was very sad and none of the woodchucks or her friends could make her happy. One day the goose set off on her own to discover the world on her own. After leaving her home, the goose became very sad and lonely. One night during her journey, she fell of the side of a cliff. While she was struggling to survive, she discovered something about herself. She discovered that she could fly. Then she flew home happily.

This book would be an excellent tool to use to teach young students about tolerance and self acceptance. Even though the goose looked very different from the woodchucks they accepted the goose into their family. this could be used to help children understand that appearances and skin color should not be considered when evaluating someone. Children need to learn early not to discriminate when choosing their friends. this book also teaches the positive message that we should love who we are even if we look or act different. In the beginning of the book the goose let his appearance make him feel out of place with his family even though they loved him very much. The goose had to leave everything she loved in order to realize that it made no difference if she looked very different from his family.

Molly Bang's illustrations appear to be done in water color. The single and double page illustrations do an excellent job of complimenting the story. The dark, somber colors that are used for the portions of the book that the goose is sad and lonely help the reader to understand the goose's plight. Also, the cute and cuddly drawings of the goose help the reader to sympathize with the character. I also liked hot there were several illustrations on a few pages. This gave the book a movie effect where you were seeing the story move in time. This is an adorable and inspiring book the has many beneficial qualities for the classroom.