It might seem a strange idea, a band of animals ranging from a gazelle to a moth getting together to have a meal of macaroni and carrots followed by chocolate mousse, but in the realm of children's books anything is possible. Julia Donaldson has in fact created a wonderful book bursting with rhyme, adjectives and the idea of differing personalities in Chocolate Mousse for Greedy Goose. The title is actually based on a line from one of the pages and the alliteration probably makes it the most obvious one to have been chosen.
On each page we meet a different animal, and there is one line of text at the top where the animal makes a comment on the meal they are having, such as 'Carrots – yuck!' says fussy Duck, or 'I'll lick the bowl,' says furry Mole. Most of the animals are described by an adjective: Rabbit is angry (because Goose has grabbed the mousse), whereas Moth is happy (because he can eat the cloth when all the food is gone). After the meal, helpful Pup suggests washing up, but lazy Sheep thinks it would be much nicer to have a sleep. On the final double page we see all sixteen animals snoozing on the sofa under a patchwork quilt.
The idea of all the animals being together is suggested in the illustrations, where on the extreme left-hand side we see part of the animal from the previous page, and on the extreme right-hand side is a little bit of the next animal that is coming up. Nick Sharratt's illustrations are bold and attractive for young children (although I was looking at this book alongside 'Doing the Animal Bop' and didn't find the colour scheme worked quite as well, but perhaps I'm just a fussy duck). I do, however, appreciate the expressions that he has given to the animals according to their different moods and feelings.
For me this is a super book in terms of language, especially the rhyming patterns. The adjectives too contribute a good deal, and it would be interesting to ask a young child why the white Swan is sad or why the Cow is busy. For a slightly older child, you could play a memory game after reading the book, asking which animal was shy or which was fussy, or even how the Moth was described. Because it is so concise and contains so many rhymes, children around the age of four are quite likely to memorize parts of the text or perhaps the whole book. For very young children, it is an excellent way of helping them to learn what various animals look like and it could be interesting as a tie-in with a visit to a zoo. Slightly older children might have fun trying to remember all sixteen animals after the book has been closed.
This is a very short picture book based around a clever idea and presented in an excellent way in terms of both language and illustrations. It could be read aloud to children aged from two upwards. For young independent readers, there are a few tricky words, but the illustrations will of course be a great help in enabling them to work out the names of the animals. I definitely recommend this for children aged between two and five, possibly six, and the Amazon price of £3.49 is excellent value.
Chocolate Mousse for Greedy Goose
by Julia Donaldson and Nick Sharratt
Macmillan Children's Books, 2006
Paperback, 24 pages
ISBN 140502190X
Price £5.99 (£3.59 on Amazon)
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