Boo to a goose by Mem Fox and pictures by David Miller

My first reaction was to the rhyming. I felt like they were well written rhymes. They broke certain paradigms that would make a reader take interest in what the author was saying. I didn’t much care for the illustrations out of personal taste. There were pictures of 3D images constructed out of paper and other objects. In the illustration of a town with the young boy who had balloons on his feet, the illustrator uses actual string to tie the balloons on the boy’s feet. I personally felt like this sort of imagery limited the potential of this book. Others might say that its unique style enhanced it and made it different from many other picture books, but I did not care for it.

This book would be limited to the younger ages otherwise it would seem to be condescending for the upper grades.  2^nd Grade on down would find this book entertaining and engaging. This book sets a pattern and tone with its rhyming nature of that of a song. The author does a great job with adding in precise vocabulary such as the rhyme, “I would dye my hair yellow and make my Grandma bellow.” Bellow has more weight than the more common word yell, not to mention bellow rhymes with yellow. It also goes along with the singsong rhythm of the book were you can almost hear the word bellow.

The pictures of the book are well thought out. They definitely rely on a strong form of shape and line to bring the mood across to most readers. The pictures go along with the story for the most part. They do not add more insight than the words themselves imply except for a few cases. One is where the wording goes “I’d skip across town with my pants hanging down.” The picture in this section shows the shocked faces of pedestrians sitting on a bench and watching from a window. Even the baby in the stroller turns to look. Another place the picture adds certain meaning to the words is where the text states, “I’d play with a snake if I found one awake.” In this section the picture depicts a snake with dominoes underneath. Clearly implying that play means games, specifically dominoes. Many of the pictures fail to give a sense of another world. It is clear that this is make-believe. This is best represented with the image mentioned earlier with the boys pants hanging down and pedestrians shocked at the sight. One young boy with a baseball cap gasps at the obscene sight before him from a widow. The window is not attached to any building but hanging in limbo above the pedestrians on the bench. This does not allow the illusion of an actual window but shows it plainly for what it is: a man-made, three-dimensional paper image of a window. This for me personally distracts from the author’s words but for some it might be a creative way to see things. Not everything has to be believable. Sometimes it is intriguing to have a window without a building.
Published:1998