ADA AND THE GOAT

Goaded by a goat, Ada decides against a solitary life.

The hardworking, conscientious Ada channels the industrious, nature-loving protagonist of Barbara Cooney’s Miss Rumphius as she dreams of “a house where she would grow beautiful red apples and wear a soft, gray coat.” Graphite and watercolor illustrations with gentle washes evoke the work of Amy Schwartz or Marla Frazee, with cozy details abounding in the idyllic rural setting. The light-skinned Ada envisions a home “where her life and everything in it would be just so.” She starts renovating a dilapidated hillside cabin and encounters a goat caught in a fence. Compassion overrides her desire for a “quiet and ordered, simple and good” life, and she brings the injured goat home. Once it heals, however, it wreaks havoc on Ada’s house, her “beautiful red apples,” and even the “soft, gray coat,” which the goat repeatedly snatches away to the rooftop. Finally, Ada sends the goat off and tries to restore order. Alas, order isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and Ada, her soft, gray coat now covered with colorful patches representing her personal transformation, wishes the goat would return. When it does, a wonderfully satisfying twist shows the goat with five little kids cozied up on the rooftop, now transformed into a flowery, caprine oasis.

To quote the last line, “so very, very good.”