The Day the Goose Got Loose

What happens when the goose gets loose? She manages to throw the entire barnyard into chaos, and young readers will be tickled by the goings-on. After breaking out of her pen, the audacious creature eats the hens' grain; scares the sheep silly; causes the ram to butt a fussy-looking child, whose ``dress got messed and her hair un-styled''; sets free the horses, who storm the house; and provokes a bull named Spence to charge through the pasture fence. Lindbergh's rollicking rhymed verse charts the goose's destructive course, as Kellogg shows feathers and flowerpots flying, trashcans tumbling and wild-eyed people and animals scurrying in every direction. The goose calms down, finally, after the police arrive to set things right, and before long an explanation for her antics surfaces. The book closes with a soothing, exquisitely illustrated dream sequence that offsets the frenzy of the rest of the tale, and demonstrates Kellogg's remarkable versatility. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)