Models Monday: Still Thinking about Duck & Goose (edited)

The only time I remember books being read to me is when I attended elementary school and I loved it. I also remember my classmates’ enthusiasm when we learned of the weeklong book fair planned for our school as well as those weekly trips to the school’s library. If anyone ever read to me at home, I have no memory of it. I saw people around me reading and was often told to “go and read something.”

Now that I read to my son, it gives me an opportunity to reflect on these stories . Duck and Goose followed by Duck, Duck, Goose, both by Tad Hills, are two that I think about and reference quite often. In fact, I’ve written two (now three) other posts on Hill’s work. The second book is one that I reflect on the most. Duck, Duck, Goose adds a competitive element to the friendship between Duck and Goose. Thistle, the new duck, wants to transform what had been a mostly cooperative relationship into a game of winners and losers.

My favorite part of the book, and the portion that I cite all the time, is when Goose comes to a point where he decides that he has had enough of Thistle’s contests.

The top panel shows Thistle creating another one of his contests when Hill writes, “Goose had had enough.” Anytime I’m fed up with the inevitable nonsense that life presents, I say out loud, “Goose has had enough,” which means I’m done with this foolishness and I turn towards my own agenda. If you don’t have a phrase that allows for an escape from this mad, mad, mad, mad world, you can use mine.