One Little Goat
written by Ursula Dubosarsky
Little Hare / Hardie Grant Egmont 2017
It starts with one little goat. It ends with one little goat. But what happens in between is a whirlwind of nonsense and fun.
Based on the traditional Aramaic song 'Had Gadya' and starring, among others, a girl, her dad, a goat, a cat, a dog, a stick, a fire, a bucket of water, a jogging ox, a tiny butcher and a very mysterious stranger.
With a touch of The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, One Little Goat piles calamity upon small disaster as a dog, a stick, fire, water, a buffalo, a butcher and more seek to capitalise on the chaos. Repetition and a drumming rhythm are the text’s essential ingredients, while Joyner’s familiar retro-styled images bring the snap and crackle to match each twist and turn in the rhyme. (It also needs to be said that the baby goat is quite adorable.)
Mike Shuttleworth, Books and Publishing
Joyner's energetic views of events and small town setting are superbly comic . . . The rhythmic narrative begs to be read aloud—viewers will laugh all the way through, turn the book over and begin again. A whole lot of fun! School Library Journal
The duo behind The Terrible Plop returns with a spiky riff on the cumulative song "Had Gadya" (a Passover Seder staple) that softens its sharp edges—somewhat . . . [C]omic violence with a good dose of mischief. Publishers Weekly
