Claire Goose Books

Gooseberry Goose is an upbeat children's picture book about a young goose who loves to practice flying. All his animal friends are preparing for winter by storing food or building a warm den, yet though Gooseberry Goose wants to prepare too, he can't bring himself to abandon his flying. Then the big day of migration arrives, and the accomplished goose learns that he has been preparing to deal with winter all along. Enthusiastic color illustrations by Vanessa Cabban add a hearty touch to Claire Freedman's enjoyable and highly recommended picture book story.

This book has big delicious pictures of full autumn weather and big friendly animals, notably "Gooseberry Goose." Gooseberry is wonderfully drawn, in flight his webbed feet look humorously oversized, and his long thin neck doesn't seem proportional to his giant two-layer wings and his hefty, round body. Gooseberry lives in a river community where all the friendly, but very busy animals prepare for winter in their own way. The brown beaver must finish his dam, the deep auburn squirrel collects acorns, and the rabbit has to cozy up his den (the entrance to which looks very much like the outline of a bunny!). The bright colors and very approachable animals make for a joyous story.

But Gooseberry hears his own call of the wild, and that call commands him to practice flying. He has a bumpy takeoff near the beaver dam and soars happily among the orange and yellow leaves. There's just enough tension as we see all the animals gathering food for winter-except for Gooseberry. Even Gooseberry is concerned:

"Winter's coming! And I'm not ready!' said Gooseberry. Mama laughed. "Little gooseberry, don't you remember what I told you? Geese don't stay here for the winter. It gets too cold." We'll be fling south, where it will be nice and warm," Papa said. "It's a long, long trip, and that's why you need to practice flying. You've been getting ready for winter all day!"

In a final picture, we see Gooseberry and his parents flying high above the pond, where Gooseberry's non-migrating friends wave goodbye. It's a lovely picture of purple hazed mountains, golden-topped trees, autumnal leaves, and evergreen trees. This is a gentle story with friendly, inviting animal characters, a nature-driven plot, and excellent color quality.