OH MY GOSH, MRS. MCNOSH!

In the third installment of the Mrs. McNosh series (Mrs. McNosh and the Great Big Squash, 2000, etc.), the titular heroine encounters a series of surprises when her dog, George, chases a squirrel through the park. The action begins when George breaks free from his leash: “Her dog saw a squirrel and started to bark. / ‘Stop barking! Stop pulling!’ said Nelly McNosh. / But George wouldn’t listen, and so—.” The refrain, “Oh, my gosh!” is introduced on the next page as Westcott’s energetic watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations, crisply outlined in fine black pen, depict the trio dashing through the grass. When George chases the squirrel across a pond by jumping in a boat (“He dove and he wove right past Mrs. McNosh. / ‘I’ll catch you!’ Cried Nelly. But then—/ Oh, my gosh!”) the phrase comes up again, prompting readers to predict the outcome. In this case, Mrs. McNosh does a belly flop and nabs not the dog but “a big trout” instead. Throughout, Westcott effectively conveys the mayhem through cause-and-effect scenes; certain details, such as the catastrophic close-ups of Mrs. McNosh and George’s rear end peeking out from the corner of the page, communicate the futility of the frenetic chase. Having finally admitted defeat, Mrs. McNosh gets the biggest surprise of all when she heads home: George greets her at the door with her slippers in his mouth. “Oh, my gosh!” cries Mrs. McNosh. (Picture book. 3-6)