GOOSE MOON

A gentle, slightly sentimental story about a girl, her grandfather, and the turning of the year. As the girl tells her story, she and her grandfather watch the geese fly to “a place that was warm and sunny” while the frost comes to the classroom windows and evenings are cozy in the farmhouse. But even the joys of snow can grow wearisome, and the girl asks Grampa if it will ever be summer again (a book on the sofa—titledMinnesota—underscores her concern). He assures her the geese “will bring summer back on their wings” and one late winter night wakes her to see them returning across the moonlit night. Postier diligently depicts a very rural landscape from late autumn to early spring, and both girl and Grampa share an open-faced camaraderie. An author’s note says she was inspired by the Omaha people’s naming of the months by their habits or harvests, as many First Peoples do (Moon When the Geese Come Home = February). (Picture book. 6-8)