The Greedy Goat

PreS-Gr 2—Tired of her usual diet of herbs and grass, Goat spends Saturday wandering the farmyard in pursuit of some new fare. She eats the dog's food for breakfast (washed down with the cat's milk), gobbles the pig's scraps for lunch (along with a plant and a shoe snatched from the farmhouse), and downs the farmer's underpants for dinner (filched off the clothes line). Not surprisingly, Goat feels unwell that evening, and turns a variety of colorful (and fun-to-identify) shades, before settling on pea green. When the farm family notices the missing objects, there is some consternation, but their primary concern is for Goat. After spending Sunday convalescing (dramatically laid out over a spread), she makes a gradual, day-by-day recovery. By Saturday, she's pretty much herself again, but the story's open ending will leave young listeners wondering if Goat has learned her lesson. Done in bright hues and inviting textures, the folksy mixed-media illustrations work in harmony with the rhythmic, well-paced telling. Goat's body language and facial expressions underscore each moment—smug pleasure while greedily chomping everything in sight, the tongue-lolling agony of a tummy ache, the self-satisfied pose (with farmer's boot in mouth) at book's end.