Goodwin the Goat

In the 1950s, Corduroy creator Freeman made a series of dummies for a book about a frisky goat, explains son Roy Freeman in an afterword to this previously unpublished story. Inspired by a real-life incident involving Don Freeman’s wife, her easel, and a hungry goat, the story introduces Goodwin, a white goat who “liked to nibble on all sorts of interesting things, like toothpaste tubes, tin can labels and delicious paste.” After a woman, Miss Phipps, leaves her in-progress painting to picnic nearby, Goodwin can’t resist sampling her paints, spraying them all over her artwork and the grass, which he rolls in. To pay for new art supplies, Miss Phipps and Goodwin’s owner, farmer Mac Duff, charge admission to see the goat’s vividly colored coat. Although Freeman’s wispy ink-and-watercolor pictures are in keeping with the story’s whimsy, it’s hard to see them as more than rough sketches, and the text is similarly unpolished (Miss Phipps and farmer Mac Duff “were friends after that for a long time and watched Goodwin play and romp from sunrise to sunset”). Best for diehard Freeman fans. Ages 3–6. (May)