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The Goose That Almost Got Cooked
When Emily was just a gosling, swimming behind her mother, she loved to drop out of line to swim around in little circles... So begins the story of an independent goose.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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48 people want to read
About the author
Marc Simont
132 books28 followersArtist, political cartoonist, and illustrator of more than a hundred children's books, Marc Simont was born in 1915 in Paris. His parents were from the Catalonia region of Spain, and his childhood was spent in France, Spain, and the United States. Encouraged by his father, Joseph Simont, an artist and staff illustrator for the magazine L'Illustration, Marc Simont drew from a young age. Though he later attended art school in Paris and New York, he considers his father to have been his greatest teacher.
When he was nineteen, Mr. Simont settled in America permanently, determined to support himself as an artist. His first illustrations for a children's book appeared in 1939. Since then, Mr. Simont has illustrated nearly a hundred books, working with authors as diverse as Margaret Wise Brown and James Thurber. He won a Caldecott Honor in 1950 for illustrating Ruth Krauss's The Happy Day, and in in 1957 he was awarded the Caldecott Medal for his pictures in A Tree is Nice, by Janice May Udry.
Internationally acclaimed for its grace, humor, and beauty, Marc Simont's art is in collections as far afield at the Kijo Picture Book Museum in Japan, but the honor he holds most dear is having been chosen as the 1997 Illustrator of the Year in his native Catalonia. Mr. Simont and his wife have one grown son, two dogs and a cat. They live in West Cornwall, Connecticut. Marc Simont's most recent book is The Stray Dog.
When he was nineteen, Mr. Simont settled in America permanently, determined to support himself as an artist. His first illustrations for a children's book appeared in 1939. Since then, Mr. Simont has illustrated nearly a hundred books, working with authors as diverse as Margaret Wise Brown and James Thurber. He won a Caldecott Honor in 1950 for illustrating Ruth Krauss's The Happy Day, and in in 1957 he was awarded the Caldecott Medal for his pictures in A Tree is Nice, by Janice May Udry.
Internationally acclaimed for its grace, humor, and beauty, Marc Simont's art is in collections as far afield at the Kijo Picture Book Museum in Japan, but the honor he holds most dear is having been chosen as the 1997 Illustrator of the Year in his native Catalonia. Mr. Simont and his wife have one grown son, two dogs and a cat. They live in West Cornwall, Connecticut. Marc Simont's most recent book is The Stray Dog.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 2, 2012
Maybe I just don't get it.
If you were to ask me the moral of this story, I would have to say, "Make sure you stick with the crowd and suppress any creative indulgences because they'll just imperil your peace of mind and well-being."
Is it just me or is that a horrible message to give our children?
I know that if I encourage my child to take risks, then I'll eventually have to see him get hurt. But I think it would be worse to protect him from all risks and have him always be a crowd-follower.
The Story
The Goose That Almost Got Cooked by Marc Simont is the story of Emily, a Canadian Goose. Emily was always different from the others. She'd swim out of formation as a gosling and when she grew older she liked to do flips and loop-the-loops in the air. Her friend Sam warned her not to do that because she would get tired. Sure enough, on a migratory flight to Lake Artok with the rest of the flock, her individual antics wore her out and she had to swoop down for a nap.
When Emily woke up, she was surrounded by six large white geese. Before she could ask them any questions, the farmer came out to feed them a delicious meal of corn, wheat, and celery tops. The geese then filed into their comfortable shed where they are kept safe from rain and foxes.
This is where the story begins to turn into a horror story for children. One morning Emily wakes up and there are only six geese. She spends the whole day searching for the missing goose. She finally enters a barn where we see a discarded claw below a meat grinder and a bucket of feathers. We then see the roasted goose being served up on the table. These images almost gave me nightmares, and I immediately felt guilt that I was reading this as a bedtime story to the seven-year-old that I was babysitting.
Emily tries to fly away but her flight feathers have molted. You can almost hear the Jaws music playing in the background. The story continues to build to a frightening climax as Emily overhears the plans to have "the Canada goose for dinner."
Emily does get away, sparing the young readers yet another nightmare, but she finds it is harder to fly alone against the winds and storm than it was with the rest of the flock. When she finally rejoins them, her friend Sam greets her happily. From then on, Simont tells us, Emily sticks to business, only doing flips and loop-the-loops in the evening after most of the flying is over. And now Sam will join her as well.
Questionable Morals
Aside from the intensity of the scenes where Emily almost gets cooked, I dislike the anti-individuality theme running through this book. Rather than encouraging children to follow their dreams, it encourages them to do what everyone else is doing.
I suppose I could take another side to this story. I could make a case that the book is teaching that what is comfortable (a safe shed and lots of food) isn't always healthy. It might be teaching that self-indulgence is dangerous. Perhaps it is even trying to prepare children for corporate
America by telling them that it is important to control one's individuality for the sake of being a team player. They can express one's creativity in the evening, after they leave work.
I just can't make that case convincingly. All I see is a goose who almost got cooked because she was exuberant and expressive. I see a goose whose creativity and individuality was punished in an almost fatal manner.
I'm glad that the children I was reading it to merely had the book on loan from the library. It'll be one that I'll skip reading to my son.
If you were to ask me the moral of this story, I would have to say, "Make sure you stick with the crowd and suppress any creative indulgences because they'll just imperil your peace of mind and well-being."
Is it just me or is that a horrible message to give our children?
I know that if I encourage my child to take risks, then I'll eventually have to see him get hurt. But I think it would be worse to protect him from all risks and have him always be a crowd-follower.
The Story
The Goose That Almost Got Cooked by Marc Simont is the story of Emily, a Canadian Goose. Emily was always different from the others. She'd swim out of formation as a gosling and when she grew older she liked to do flips and loop-the-loops in the air. Her friend Sam warned her not to do that because she would get tired. Sure enough, on a migratory flight to Lake Artok with the rest of the flock, her individual antics wore her out and she had to swoop down for a nap.
When Emily woke up, she was surrounded by six large white geese. Before she could ask them any questions, the farmer came out to feed them a delicious meal of corn, wheat, and celery tops. The geese then filed into their comfortable shed where they are kept safe from rain and foxes.
This is where the story begins to turn into a horror story for children. One morning Emily wakes up and there are only six geese. She spends the whole day searching for the missing goose. She finally enters a barn where we see a discarded claw below a meat grinder and a bucket of feathers. We then see the roasted goose being served up on the table. These images almost gave me nightmares, and I immediately felt guilt that I was reading this as a bedtime story to the seven-year-old that I was babysitting.
Emily tries to fly away but her flight feathers have molted. You can almost hear the Jaws music playing in the background. The story continues to build to a frightening climax as Emily overhears the plans to have "the Canada goose for dinner."
Emily does get away, sparing the young readers yet another nightmare, but she finds it is harder to fly alone against the winds and storm than it was with the rest of the flock. When she finally rejoins them, her friend Sam greets her happily. From then on, Simont tells us, Emily sticks to business, only doing flips and loop-the-loops in the evening after most of the flying is over. And now Sam will join her as well.
Questionable Morals
Aside from the intensity of the scenes where Emily almost gets cooked, I dislike the anti-individuality theme running through this book. Rather than encouraging children to follow their dreams, it encourages them to do what everyone else is doing.
I suppose I could take another side to this story. I could make a case that the book is teaching that what is comfortable (a safe shed and lots of food) isn't always healthy. It might be teaching that self-indulgence is dangerous. Perhaps it is even trying to prepare children for corporate
America by telling them that it is important to control one's individuality for the sake of being a team player. They can express one's creativity in the evening, after they leave work.
I just can't make that case convincingly. All I see is a goose who almost got cooked because she was exuberant and expressive. I see a goose whose creativity and individuality was punished in an almost fatal manner.
I'm glad that the children I was reading it to merely had the book on loan from the library. It'll be one that I'll skip reading to my son.
May 13, 2013
This is a wonderfully humane book and would make an excellent choice for veg*n families. A Canada goose gets waylaid and decides to take shelter at a farm, where she joins a group of well-fed domestic geese. One day, the goose notices one of her friends is missing--and she realizes the reason the farmer feeds them all so well and shelters them--they're just being fattened for the pot!
This book handles a difficult topic with grace in an age-appropriate way. When the Canada goose regains her flight and flees the people who would turn her into a main course, we are shown that everyone wants to live, and no one wants to be eaten. This book will no doubt bring up some interesting discussions about the way we treat other creatures, and if this is how they would like to be treated.
This book handles a difficult topic with grace in an age-appropriate way. When the Canada goose regains her flight and flees the people who would turn her into a main course, we are shown that everyone wants to live, and no one wants to be eaten. This book will no doubt bring up some interesting discussions about the way we treat other creatures, and if this is how they would like to be treated.
November 8, 2012
Emily is what you would call a thrill seeker! Shed rather loop de leep and spin wheel in the sky than fly in the boring V-formation. But on her way south she gets tuckered out and stops to rest at a farm. There are 7 other geese there but they are domesticated, fed tree times a day. Emily thinks shes going to like the farm until one morning she wakes up and theres only 6 other geese.
As she searches for the missing goose she finds a bucket full of white feathers and spys the farmer and his wife eating something very suspicious.She only has to wait till her feathers grow back to fly this coop, and hide as best she can until then. What Happens to Emily?
Patience... readers, patience.
As she searches for the missing goose she finds a bucket full of white feathers and spys the farmer and his wife eating something very suspicious.She only has to wait till her feathers grow back to fly this coop, and hide as best she can until then. What Happens to Emily?
Patience... readers, patience.
April 15, 2021
The Goose That Almost Got Cooked is a amazing book. It is adventurous and has awesome illustrations. The first reason why you should read The Goose that Almost Got Cooked is because it is adventurous. It is about the amazing adventure of, Emily, the goose. For example, Emily couldn't catch up with her flock so she got very tired and fell and almost got cooked. The farmer's wife wanted to to eat, Emily, the Canada Goose. The second reason why you should read The Goose That Almost Got Cooked is because of it's illustrations. It shows what the characters are doing. For example it showed the farmer's wife serving goose. She was serving it to the farmer. If you read The Goose That Almost Got Cooked, it will leaven you speechless. Please buy this awesome book!
- Carys G.
- Carys G.
August 8, 2020
Emily, a Canada goose, loved to fly with her flock, but she would do loop-de-loops and flips instead of staying in formation. Her friend, Sam, warned her she'd tire herself out while on their long spring migration, and sure enough - she did. Landing in a farmer's field, she joined his small flock of white geese and enjoyed farm life. One day she noticed the geese were disappearing one-by-one, and she knew she was in trouble! Beautiful illustrations and a wonderful story.
January 28, 2018
A goose flies away from her group and gets stranded on a farm with a bunch of ducks. At first she thinks it's awesome because she doesn't have to do anything and she gets food, but soon she finds out that they eat ducks and geese. She tries to escape but has to wait until her flying feathers grow back. Then she flies away just as the farmers are preparing to eat her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 28, 2019
Love the pictures. Sure candidate for Caldecott. A little unnerving story line.
October 7, 2020
A bizarre blast from the past read.
September 22, 2016
Always enjoyed this one! read to after school children who also enjoyed it. Illustrations are wonderful. Not for preschoolers I would think, but 3rd up enjoy it!
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July 22, 2009JE-Sim
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January 20, 2010499th book Aby has read.
February 9, 2014
Favorite part was when I read about Canadian geese lose their feathers and molt so they can't fly. Made me want to do more research. Story was ok.
October 28, 2015
I can see how this would be a fun read for younger kids. It has a pretty intense plot and keeps you turning the next page to find out what happens to the goose.
April 30, 2017
Risk taker, took too many uneducated risks. Great story about taking risk and thrills. Risk and thrills are fun when you educate yourself on the dangers.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews