Goose

by Molly Bang (Illustrator)

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.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Fiction, Childrens, Family, 2nd Grade, 1st Grade

36 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1996

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously an adoption story. But sweet nonetheless; not too earnest or didactic. And I liked that the ending is natural & realistic - no pseudo-HEA that Goose gets to connect with her birth parents. The paintings, well, they're artistic... I could see that some other reviewers didn't care for them, but I did.

Most of all I appreciated the small size, the unassuming format. It's not all in-your-face saying, "Buy me! I'm an oversize, overpriced, instant classic!"

[Joanne Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing bit of visual storytelling with an unexpected, heart-warming ending. Molly Bang's sense of composition at it's finest - every piece immerses the reader in this modern ugly duckling tale. Lavish colors and adorable wildlife make this a perfect tale for growing up.

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goose needs to get a grip.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute little book
Adopted by woodchucks at birth, a baby goose never feels she truly belongs--until the day she discovers she can fly.

[Christian Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book because of the way the author/illustrator was able to convey the goos's feelings of sadness enjoy within such a short book. Within a short amount of time, we as readers feel sorry for the goose because it can't fly, yet we immediately feel great joy when the goose learned to fly and returns home to her friends and family. I also really enjoyed the illustrations of the book. The illustrator decided to use different strategies such as various rectangle and square types of images in order to make the illustrations stand out. The illustrations also appeared very realistic which made the story all the more engaging.

Purpose/use in the classroom: I think the best use for this book would be in a read aloud setting for young pre-K to Kindergarden students because of it's short length and readability. It will not bore the students because the pacing of the story is very quick. Furthermore, I think this book would be a good tool to use to model "actions" or "verbs" for the students. There are plenty of verbs that have to do with flying and landing and other verbs that have to do with communication such as laughing, talking, crying, etc. Since they are beginning to read, this type of vocabulary is good for their exposure and introduction to literature. Also, students will be able to learn good morals from the story such as believing in yourself, and accepting that you may be different and unique but you are a special person and it is a GOOD thing. This will be good for young children to here as they may be feeling the pressures of being exposed into social situations for the first time.

[Taya · Rating 1 out of 5]

My biggest problem with the illustrations of this book was that about half of the pages were broken apart with borders to create either a set of rectangles or smaller squares on the pages. Though this was used to set apart differnt sections of the story, the inconsistency really made it hard to follow and took away from the flow of the story. There was just too many different elements going on within the different pages that the book did not feel like a collective whole. I think the author/illustrator's intent was to create a more abstract look with this constant switching of settings, but it did not work for me.

[Marni · Rating 4 out of 5]

We thought this was ultra cute. It's like "The Ugly Ducking," only the goose is welcomed into his new family. Even though he needed to go away for a bit, there is a nice happy ending. Some really fun pictures.

[Hillvan]

NC790L. Kind of a scary adoptive book. A young reader stated that it was sad, that Goose doesn't get back to her birth mother.

Her adopted family was loving and accepting. Lovely illustrations.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the greatest of pictures but I liked the story. A goose is born into a woodchuck family....but when the Goose accidentally falls of a cliff..he flaps his wings and flaps his wings...and he learns he can fly.!!

A twist on the ugly duckling story!

[Shala Howell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to really judge this fairly, as the copy we checked out from the library is missing one or two pages. What is there seems interesting for B.

[adeservingporcupine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute, short and great pictures.

[Arminzerella · Rating 4 out of 5]

A goose raised by woodchucks! Awww...

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, but sweet tale with charming illustrations. The small size of the book makes it difficult for large groups to see the pictures.

themes: adoption, family, geese, woodchucks

[Bree · Rating 1 out of 5]

Notes:
similar to ugly duckling
format is awful -- several small rectangles of art on a tiny page

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful little story about being different - would go so nicely with Andersen's Ugly Duckling - and Bang is such a fine illustrator too!

[Nancy]

READS Streaming Video Weston Woods Read by Laura Dern.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

teach
-roll
-hatch
-fall/fell
-flap
-fly

[Emma Pasley · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my picture books. This book is an entertaining and attention grabbing book. A great retelling of the ugly duckling and good story with a great message of self-worth.

[Cheriee Weichel · Rating 5 out of 5]

My grandkids love this book. (So do I) My granddaughter especially. Over the course of four bedtimes we read it at least 12 times. Near the end of their stay, she was ‘reading’ it to me.
During a storm a goose egg is blown out of it’s nest and rolls into a woodchucks nest where it hatches. The woodchucks raise it as one of their own, but the young goose isn’t happy. She has to leave home and undergo hardships before discovering that she can fly.
Years ago I saw Molly Bang who said she wrote this book for her adopted daughter who is black.
I’m a a hard core Molly Band fan anyway. Did you know she creates her fiction picture books to find her nonfiction endeavours?

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cutest book about a goose egg that rolls down a woodchuck hole. He is not happy so walks off, FALLS off a cliff and learns he can fly. He ends up flying home to his woodchuck family.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

We watched this on a DVD that included five children's stories about birds. We were glad the goose figured out how to fly before it plunged into the sea!

[Molly Engle]

I find it interesting how Molly Bang deals with difficult subjects.

[Kathy Brower · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful. Beautiful. And every kind of sweetness!

[jacky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked a few things about this book. I liked how all the pictures were very realistic, expect the one where the woodchucks make a pyramid to cheer up the goose. The way that one picture stood out made it extra cute and funny. I also really loved how Molly Bang could use just a few pictures and short text to make us feel the goose's sadness and then joy upon feeling different and then returning home once she discovered herself. Many stories do this in a shallow way, but this really gets at the heart of it.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

All about being different, finding yourself and finding your way back home.

[James]

DVD Reading of Story

[Chelsie VanDerwerken]

PICTURE BOOK #7: A book told partly by beautiful text and pictures. A fun spin-off of the beloved fairy-tale "The Ugly Duckling".