Scapegoat

PreS-Gr 1—Pity poor Patsy Petunia Oat, the misunderstood goat at the heart of this tale. Every time young Jimmy Choat misbehaves, he pins the blame on her. And though Patsy tells Jimmy's parents that Jimmy was the one who threw away the TV remote, broke the baby's toy, and blew his nose in his mother's purse, no one else in the house speaks or understands the language of goats. When the next-door neighbor, who happens to know Goat, gets wind of the situation, he steps in to interpret, and justice is served. Though the text sometimes overreaches in its attempts to find rhymes for "goat" (after all, how many contemporary kids will get a reference to The Love Boat?), the colorful cartoon illustrations and the sheer wackiness of the story will likely appeal to young readers and listeners. Teachers planning lessons on the "oa" sound will definitely want to check this book out.—Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD