ONE SMART GOOSE

Despite low marks for internal logic, this brief tale of a clever goose and a fox on the prowl will draw honks of glee from fans of such similar encounters as Pat Hutchins’s classic Rosie’s Walk or Mem Fox’s Hattie and the Fox (1986). Beneath each full moon, a fox chases (though never seems to catch) all the shiny white geese, but leaves a muddy loner be. Why? Because the mud on his feathers makes him less visible, the loner explains. All of the other geese thereupon hurry over to the muddy pond; but when the weather changes and snow starts to fall, they ignore his advice to wash off the grime, with predictable results. So the brainy bird kicks the fox down the hill, blithely declares that the pest won’t be back, earns the adulation of his gagglemates, “and was never lonely again.” Even younger audiences are likely to find all of this too easy, but they’ll enjoy the tale’s brisk action and simply drawn cartoon illustrations. (Picture book. 5-7)