Mucky Duck? No! It's A Goose. (Pond Goose - Caroline Jayne Church)

Member Name: belfin

Product:	Pond Goose - Caroline Jayne Church
Date:	09/11/06 (137 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny story and pictures

Disadvantages: none

***Background***

Caroline Jayne Church is well known for writing children's books but has also illustrated a great many for other author's too, including Ian Whybrow's Wobble Bear and Michaela Morgan's Dear Bunny, both of which I have already reviewed.

This book is all her own work and it tells a funny story about what it is like to be different.

***The Story***

The story begins,

"Down on the farm lived a gaggle of geese.
They were shiny and clean.
Even their beaks gleamed.
All the geese, that is, except one."

We are then introduced to Pond Goose who is always mucky. The other geese are ashamed of him but soon realise that the fox never sees Pond Goose at night because he is always so dirty and dark, whilst their white feathers show up in the moonlight.

All the geese decide to get muddy too and they are very happy until one day Pond Goose realises how cold it's getting and goes off to find a clean pond to wash all the dirt off. Just as he is finished the snow starts to fall and he quickly blends in with it.

The other geese don't understand when he tries to tell them until the fox appears again. Luckily Pond Goose is on hand and saves the day and at last he feels accepted by the other geese as they thank him.

***The Illustrations***

The drawings in this book are lovely, simple and precise with a print design making up the background grass, trees and ponds. The geese all look a bit bewildered in every page and I particularly like the pictures at the start and end of the book where the pond is full of white goose bottoms sticking out of the water at the start with the exception of one dirty one, and then at the end they are all dirty except for one clean one.

***My Thoughts***

This is a bit like the ugly duckling story in a way and tells the story of how difficult it can be to be accepted when you are that little bit different. I like it because it shows how being different doesn't mean you don't belong and shows that there may be good reasons for not being the same as all the rest.

The story is told in a simple manner with only a few lines on each page, so it ideal reading for a bedtime story and as always it is good to see the baddie get his comeuppance at the end of the book.

The pictures are really good in this book and go exceptionally well with the story. Pond Goose may be dirty at one point in the book but at least he doesn't have small bald patches on him like the other geese do after the fox has been at them. I found this section of the book quite amusing as Pond Goose looks on silently at all the other's who have teased him.

This book would be great for reading to toddlers or for young children starting out on their reading quest.

***Other Books by Caroline Jayne Church***

Scruff Sheep
One Smart Goose
Do Your Ears Hang Low?
Little Hamster and the Great Flood
Little Donkey
Curious Camel

***Price and Availability***

This large paperback book is priced at £5.99 but is available from Tesco for only £4.49.

ISBN No. 0192725718

Summary: Good story about being different