Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
The famous Polacco goats are back! In this playful interactive chant, three mischievous little goats find their way out of the gate (squeak, squeak, squeak!), over a bridge (click, click, click!) through some mud (squish, squish, squish!), onto a carousel (um pah pah pah, um pah pah!)...and right into the path of an angry ogre! Of course, they are happy to turn right around and run straight back over the path the traveled, until at last they are back home gain, safe and sound.
Patricia Polacco's color palette is bright and springlike in her second goat adventure for very young readers.
Three goats escape from their pen and visit a fair, but they run back home after they seem to encounter an ogre.
Synopsis
The famous Polacco goats are back! In this playful interactive chant, three mischievous little goats find their way out of the gate (squeak, squeak, squeak!), over a bridge (click, click, click!), through some mud (squish, squish, squish!), onto a carousel (um pah pah pah, um pah pah!) . . . and right into the path of an angry ogre! Of course, they are happy to turn right around and run straight back over the path they traveled, until at last they are back home again, safe and sound.
Patricia Polacco's color palette is bright and springlike in her second goat adventure (G is for Goat) for very young readers.
Publishers Weekly
Much to the consternation of their young shepherdesses, the goats in their charge are on the loose and determined to let nothing stand in the way of their freedom. The pond certainly doesn't prove to be an obstacle. "Oh, look, we see water. A deep blue pond," writes Polacco (When Lightning Comes in a Jar), channeling the glee of her runaway protagonists in rhythmic, sound-rich sentences while she shows one goat splashing in the water with the vigor of a kindergartner. "Can't go over it,/ can't go under it,/ can't go around it.../ Let's swim it!/ Swish, swish, swish we go as we swim in it." The babushka-wearing owners give chase as fast as their voluminous clothing allows (their wardrobe brings to mind a Russian nesting doll), hitching up their skirts to scamper over the quaint, rolling landscape where there's nary an SUV or cellphone in sight. The goats finally stop in their tracks when the object of an "Oh, look!" is an ogre in a village carnival funhouse, "with great big eyes and sharp green claws." The chase then shifts into reverse, until the now-frantic goats race to get "right back home, safe and sound!" Younger readers especially will cheer on the goats because they're just like... well, kids-gawky, wide-eyed grinners, full of beans but wise enough to know there's no place like home. Ages 3-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Much to the consternation of their young shepherdesses, the goats in their charge are on the loose and determined to let nothing stand in the way of their freedom. The pond certainly doesn't prove to be an obstacle. "Oh, look, we see water. A deep blue pond," writes Polacco (When Lightning Comes in a Jar), channeling the glee of her runaway protagonists in rhythmic, sound-rich sentences while she shows one goat splashing in the water with the vigor of a kindergartner. "Can't go over it,/ can't go under it,/ can't go around it.../ Let's swim it!/ Swish, swish, swish we go as we swim in it." The babushka-wearing owners give chase as fast as their voluminous clothing allows (their wardrobe brings to mind a Russian nesting doll), hitching up their skirts to scamper over the quaint, rolling landscape where there's nary an SUV or cellphone in sight. The goats finally stop in their tracks when the object of an "Oh, look!" is an ogre in a village carnival funhouse, "with great big eyes and sharp green claws." The chase then shifts into reverse, until the now-frantic goats race to get "right back home, safe and sound!" Younger readers especially will cheer on the goats because they're just like... well, kids-gawky, wide-eyed grinners, full of beans but wise enough to know there's no place like home. Ages 3-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.Children's Literature
Patricia Polacco's picture book is a variation on the familiar "going on a bear hunt" rhyme heard in so many preschools. Polacco's protagonists are three goats who escape a gate and romp through a book knowing they "Can't go over it,/ can't go under it,/ can't go around it." And so they go through a gate, across a bridge, climb up a hill and with each encounter, Polacco adds a sound. At the end, when the goats flee a fun-house mirror ogre, they skedaddle home making all the sounds they made en route. Choruses, sound making, and the lovely up and down story arc will involve young children, who may just understand prepositions better without even realizing it! 2004, Philomel, Ages 2 to 4.—Susie Wilde