Anna's Goat - Hardcover

Keefer, Janice Kulyk

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 155143153X ISBN 13: 9781551431536

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers, 2001

Synopsis

Based on a true story, tells the tale of Anna and Wanda, refugee children who were taken care of by a nanny goat while their mother worked all day in a factory.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Keefer (Honey and Ashes, for adults) makes her children's book debut with this disappointing tale of a child's friendship with the goat that fortifies her, based on a true story of WWII. The book opens with the birth of baby Anna in an indeterminate "cold, dark country," to which her parents and older sister fled when the war drove them from their homeland, and covers her early childhood. When Mother can no longer nurse Anna, her factory co-workers give the woman a goat, which keeps "the children safe and warm and full as summer"; a towel that the goat often pulled off of the laundry line serves as Anna's remembrance of the animal when they leave it behind at war's end. Unfortunately, rather than emphasizing the universality of the family's experiences, a number of vague references may well disorient readers. For instance, Anna's father is "sent to live in another village," and the native city to which the family returns is described only in terms of its parks, palaces, trees and caf?s that "had been bombed into rubble." Also, after the war, the father suddenly reappears in the text with no description of the family's reunion. Rendered on colored paper with Cont? crayons, Wilson's (Me and Mr. Mah) intentionally grainy, golden-toned artwork is at its strongest with the portraits of the main characters; some of her other illustrations, perhaps due to the vagueness of the setting in the text, are sketchy and undefined. Ages 4-8. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 2-4-"Far, far away, across the plains and over the mountains in a cold, dark country, Anna was born." In fact, the infant's parents and sister have fled their home during a nameless war and are trying to survive under difficult conditions. The father has been "sent to live in another village" and the mother, no longer able to produce milk to feed the baby, eventually finds work in a factory. The women in the village come to her aid and lend her a goat for milk and to keep her two girls company during the day. The story follows the eventually reunited family as they return to their homeland (without the goat), where instead of parks and caf‚s, they find debris and destruction. Here, the children play in the rubble, sometimes finding "treasures." When Anna, now a young child, despairs that she can't find a treasure, her mother gives her a towel that her beloved goat had chewed on. This sparks Anna's memories of her love for the animal, which helps her through the coming days. This evocative story illustrates the difficulties of war and the necessity of hope. The full- and double-page illustrations on colored paper with crayon in subdued tones reflect both the horror of war and the strength of the human spirit.-Sheilah Kosco, Rapides Parish Library, Alexandria, LA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 155143153X
• ISBN 13: 9781551431536
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Wilson Janet