The Goose Egg

October 15, 2018
Once Henrietta the elephant's quiet is interrupted, there may be no going back to being satisfied with solitude.Henrietta's a classic introvert. She loves her Darjeeling and the morning paper. She loves swimming below the noisy geese at the lake and savoring the peace underwater. But one day, the elephant gets "a little too lost" in her thoughts, and she bonks her head on a piling. She bandages the "goose egg" she feels on her head with her trunk. (In-the-know listeners will be screaming with delight.) Henrietta's brought up short when her egg hatches and she finds herself a "Mama!" When she is unable to return the imprinted baby to the nest, Henrietta takes her in, but her peace and solitude are shattered, and that only worsens as Goose grows. Finally, the clever elephant uses a brush and paint to transform her head into a mama goose, and she teaches the bird all she needs to know about being a goose. Goose flies off in the fall, but Henrietta's quiet is now emptiness...until Goose returns with goslings of her own. Wong's watercolor, colored pencil, gouache, and Photoshop illustrations are delightfully spare, keeping the focus on the expressive elephant and her dilemma. Henrietta is the only character with personality; Goose (and her goslings) is merely cute. While a sweet tale, it carries with it the rather overbearing assumption that introverts are, unbeknownst to them, probably actually lonely.Adoptees may appreciate the message; introverts may want to look elsewhere. (Picture book. 3-7)

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PreS-Gr 1-Henrietta the elephant loved her quiet, orderly life, in which she could do anything she wanted anytime she wanted. She even had quiet time to think. But on an underwater swim Henrietta inadvertently bumps into an elevated goose nest and comes away with quite a bump on her head. A goose egg, one might say. She bandaged her sore head and waited patiently for it to heal. In no time at all, the bandage bursts and out pops a baby goose. Henrietta had a literal goose egg on her head and now this gosling thinks Henrietta is her mother. What to do? Rendered in a soft palette using watercolors, colored pencils, and gouache, Wong offers a gentle story of imprinting, to be sure, but more so a story of finding love where and when it's least expected. And love, as everyone knows, changes everything. VERDICT A charming read-aloud that's a perfect choice for one-on-one or small group sharing.-Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA

Starred review from December 1, 2018
Preschool-G *Starred Review* This lovely lesson about expanding one's horizons posits that sometimes you need to be knocked on the head in order to change. That's what literally happens to Henrietta, an elephant who loves to be alone and for things to be quiet and routine. She adores having calming cups of tea and going for a soothing swim in the lake. The only thing that ruffles her placid existence is the presence of squawking geese on the lake's surface, but Henrietta dips below, escaping all the commotion. One day, Henrietta swims into a piling topped with a nest and gets a large lump on her head, which turns out to be an actual goose egg. Unaware of her new cargo, the elephant swims home, where the egg hatches, the gosling imprints on the elephant, and Henrietta's quiet life is turned upside down. The wonderful thing about this laugh-out-loud story is the way Henrietta rises to the unsought challenges of raising the gosling, teaching it to fly, and then letting it fly away. Henrietta's realization that a little adventure and chaos can be a good thing is a great way to represent caring for another. The gentle pastel-hued illustrations, done in watercolors, colored pencils, and gouache, give warmth and comic details to the story. A captivating and endearing life lesson.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)