Great Goat Chase, The

by Tony Bonning

This is a lovely early reading book with fun, colorful illustrations. The story is told in easy-to-read text and it is an ideal book to read with young children who love animals. When Mr Farmer's three goats get into his turnip field, it seems as if nothing will shift them out of it. Mr Farmer tries first, then Dog, then Horse, then Cow, then Pig. But can ANY of them get those greedy goats to leave? NO, THEY CAN'T! Then along comes a tiny little bee...

32 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 1999

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was more of a 2.5 than a three star book, so I rounded up. The full-color goofy illustrations by Sally Hobson were much better than the text.

One big mistake Hobson did, though. Dog (that's his name, poor thing) was described as a sheepdog, and Hobson drew him as an overweight Jack Russell -- complete with a docked tail. Ewww.

The author also stated that the sheepdog couldn't herd goats, which is wrong -- but then again, we have talking animals here, so I'm giving that just a smirk and moving on.

Just what failure of the imagination made the farmer's name MR. FARMER? Farmer is often used as a title in children's books. Even FARMER Smith would have made a better name.

Sadly, there is a major production flaw in the book. In the last two crucial pages, black ink is set against really dark green hills. This makes those two pages nearly impossible to read. If you're reading it online, you can enlarge the screen, but in real book form, you're screwed.

Cute story, but had preventable problems.