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I bought this book at an Old Navy, of all places to buy a book. The artwork looked cute and since Connal was only a month old or so, that was a good enough reason. He isn’t a huge critic of narrative (or grammar, but I’ll get to that later).

The story: Silly Suzy Goose realizes one day that she is just like all the other geese. She wishes to be like other animals. Each page has a lively illustration of Suzy Goose mimicking a different animal, sliding like a penguin, roaring like a lion, and hanging upside down like a bat. These are the part that make it fun book for young children. When Suzy Goose “roarhonks” at the lion and “STRETCHES” like the giraffe, kids at read-along stage will love it (and likely shriek the action words with grandiose delight).

Now for the part I don’t like (and maybe this is just my personal take on the idea). The book follows Suzy Goose trying to be like all these other animals (not being true to herself?), then in the end she decides it’s better for her to just be a goose. Ideally, this is attempting to teach children that it is best to be yourself (…if not, you’ll be eaten by a lion when you attempt to roar). However, I’m not so sure that is the idea that comes across. The second to last page says, “Perhaps it is better to be just like everyone else, thought Suzy Goose…” with the last page reading, “but not always,” and in the safe company of all the other geese, she repeats her “Rroarrhonk!”

It’s a children’s book and the end is simple and ambiguous enough, I suppose. I took the moral of this story to be akin to, “It’s safest to blend in, only occasionally being an individual, when you know you won’t be eaten by a lion.” Is a toddler going to read so deeply into that? Unlikely. It did bug me a little bit, though.

(Note: Some versions of this book were poorly edited for US distribution. Each sentence in my copy, the US Board Book Edition 2009, use proper grammar. However, some English editions of this book repeat “If I was a (whatever animal)…” throughout the entire book. If you’re a stickler for grammar, make sure you check out which edition you’re purchasing beforehand.)