cover image The Geese March in Step

The Geese March in Step

Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois Dumont. Eerdmans, $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8028-5443-8

Zita the goose mopes after Igor, the leader of the goose parade, kicks her out of the lineup. "Why am I not like the other geese? One, two; one, two. They're always so obedient and so focused!" Zita makes a rhythm of her own as she trails around, sniffling, and attracts the attention of a woodpecker, whose typographically accentuated drumming punctuates Zita's steps: "Splash sniff splash knock." The noises made by Zita and the noises added by the other animals are written in parallel, like bars of music, with each new voice stacked on top of the ones already in progress. A rooster chimes in, a donkey and a cow join up, and pretty soon everybody joins Zita's parade down to the pond. While Dumont (The Chickens Build a Wall) paints the barnyard animals for laughs, with oversized schnozzes and tubby bodies, his landscapes show painterly attention to detail, as trees, clouds, and fields are stroked in tawny golds and lilacs. Brave readers-aloud could even attempt to coordinate performances of the symphony of animal noises as written%E2%80%94if they're prepared for the cacophony. Ages 4%E2%80%938. (Mar.)