THE GREEDY GOAT

Goat, tired of her usual feed, seeks out new forms of nourishment—and then some.

One Saturday, Goat decides she’s bored of her diet of herbs and grass. She begins a multiple-course meal, eating the dog’s food, the cat’s milk, the pig’s potato scraps—even the farmer’s pants! At first, the combination of foods and fabrics is delicious, but, after a few too many bites, Goat starts to feel queasy. She changes color from white to red to blue to yellow to green in successive vignettes, until she is down for the count. A week passes before she finally feels like herself again. Will she go back to grass, or has her greed altered her appetite forever? The minimal text is clear and straightforward. Its rhythm and repetition build, starting out with few sentences per page and then rising to a cacophony of voices as the all-white farming family and their animals wake up to find their meals (and Goat) missing. Horácek’s richly textured art is large enough to share at a distance—and wonderful to pore over up close. The cautionary tale of overeating calls to mind The Very Hungry Caterpillar. But, unlike Carle’s metamorphosed-into-beauty caterpillar, Horácek’s stubborn goat stays just as she is: greedy and hilariously foolish.

Delectable. A surefire hit with hungry goats and hungry readers alike.