Shake It Off!

March 18, 2024
A winsome little white goat with a bright kerchief around her neck, this picture book’s protagonist loves to climb and sing nonstop—digitally colored drawings, rendered in bucolic sunny tones, show joyful notes cascading from her mouth. But the neighbors, portrayed with brown skin, are not charmed when the goat mounts their roof. “That goat is driving me nuts!” they complain, and when the animal falls down a well, they choose not to rescue her, instead filling the well with dirt while she’s still trapped inside. “CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?” bright typography asks as the goat looks straight at readers with incredulous eyes. With a refrain of “Shake it off. Pack it under!” the goat quickly begins to shift the accumulating shovelfuls of dirt beneath her feet, gradually lifting herself to safety. Brantley-Newton (Becoming Vanessa) prefaces this folktale-feeling story of adversity overcome with the assurance that it will end happily, but the casual cruelty and visceral sense of peril may nevertheless alarm some readers, even if the goat is ultimately triumphant and wins the humans’ respect. An author’s note concludes. Ages 3–7. Agent: Lori Nowicki, Painted Words.

May 1, 2024
After a fall down a well, a little goat saves herself with her tenacity and her song. With brilliantly saturated colors, showy full-bleed illustrations, and evocative depictions of music, this tale looks incredibly inviting, and its ungulate protagonist makes an undeniably appealing first impression. But wherever readers think this cheerful-looking story might go, they're probably wrong. Sure, a note promising a happy ending hints that there might be darkness along the way, but most readers will have no clue what they're in for. Little Goat irritates the neighbors with her enthusiastic climbing and caterwauling. After she falls into a deep well with no clear path for rescue, the neighbors decide to skip the pleasantries and give her a "decent burial." ("It's sad, but she was pretty annoying," they reason.) As they begin shoveling dirt, Little Goat, showcasing surely the most incredulous goat face in kid lit history, persists. She sings to encourage herself to "shake it off. Pack it under" until she rises from the hole; the neighbors now gaze at her in admiration. Readers learn little about the protagonist beyond her quirks; Little Goat is a bit of a one-note character. But the narration is agreeably conversational, and children will root for Little Goat as she uses traits perceived as faults to save herself. A tale likely to strike a chord with fans of the unconventional. (Picture book. 4-9)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 1, 2024
Preschool-Grade 2 In this scary yet encouraging story--whose title and plot echo Taylor Swift's song "Shake It Off""--we meet a singing goat and a host of "haters" in the form of farm neighbors who can't stand the nanny goat's incessant singing. When the little goat wanders off and falls down a well, the hateful neighbors move from trying to rescue the goat to realizing that their noise problem will be solved if they bury the goat alive (the book reassures readers at the outset that this story will have a happy ending). The neighbors try to fill the deep hole with dirt, but the resourceful goat shakes off each shovelful, cleverly stamping the dirt under her feet till she rises to the top. The illustrations, hand-drawn and then colored digitally, brilliantly convey both the nanny goat's blithe spirit in tendrils of brightly colored notes and her plight with some unnerving cutaway side views of the goat underground. A good lesson and a fun read for Swifties of all ages.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2024
"This is a story that will have a happy ending, so don't worry too much!" With that reassuring front-matter spoiler, Brantley-Newton launches into her tale about a little singing goat. Conflict is immediately introduced, as those around her despise the goat's voice and dislike her penchant for climbing. Seemingly oblivious to others' annoyance, she seeks adventure, only to fall into a deep, dry well. Making good use of the book's materiality, Brantley-Newton offers an illustration that must be rotated ninety degrees for proper viewing, showing the goat at the bottom of the well and only the neighbors' and animals' feet visible up top. They've assembled after hearing her piteous cries but quickly abandon trying to save her, deciding instead to "give her a decent burial." This alarming twist is softened by the established light and humorous tone of text and illustrations. "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?" reads the all-caps print in bold colors as shovelfuls of dirt rain down on a close-up image of the beleaguered, incredulous goat. She's also clever and resourceful as she shakes off the dirt and packs it down, singing to herself, "Shake it off. Pack it under!" A sequence of wordless panel illustrations shows the dirt rising under her hooves until she emerges, dirty but victorious, having gained new respect from her neighbors. The potential for the story (reminiscent of the parable of the donkey in the well) to be read metaphorically is encouraged by Brantley-Newton's dedication to "every child who has been counted out" and her author's note about overcoming childhood struggles with stuttering, dyslexia, and bullying. Megan Dowd Lambert

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2024
"This is a story that will have a happy ending, so don't worry too much!" With that reassuring front-matter spoiler, Brantley-Newton launches into her tale about a little singing goat. Conflict is immediately introduced, as those around her despise the goat's voice and dislike her penchant for climbing. Seemingly oblivious to others' annoyance, she seeks adventure, only to fall into a deep, dry well. Making good use of the book's materiality, Brantley-Newton offers an illustration that must be rotated ninety degrees for proper viewing, showing the goat at the bottom of the well and only the neighbors' and animals' feet visible up top. They've assembled after hearing her piteous cries but quickly abandon trying to save her, deciding instead to "give her a decent burial." This alarming twist is softened by the established light and humorous tone of text and illustrations. "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?" reads the all-caps print in bold colors as shovelfuls of dirt rain down on a close-up image of the beleaguered, incredulous goat. She's also clever and resourceful as she shakes off the dirt and packs it down, singing to herself, "Shake it off. Pack it under!" A sequence of wordless panel illustrations shows the dirt rising under her hooves until she emerges, dirty but victorious, having gained new respect from her neighbors. The potential for the story (reminiscent of the parable of the donkey in the well) to be read metaphorically is encouraged by Brantley-Newton's dedication to "every child who has been counted out" and her author's note about overcoming childhood struggles with stuttering, dyslexia, and bullying.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)