| 9781554989164 |
| 1554989167 |
Available:*
Library | Material Type | Call Number | Shelf Location | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Library 21c | Children's Book | FLEM | Children's-J-Fiction | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Old Colorado City Library | Children's Book | FLEM | Children's-J-Fiction | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
When Kid accompanies her parents to New York City, she discovers a goat living on the roof of her Manhattan apartment building-- but she soon realizes a goat on the roof may be the least strange thing about her new home, whose residents are both fascinating and unforgettable.
When Kid accompanies her parents to New York City for a six-month stint of dog-sitting and home-schooling, she sees what looks like a tiny white cloud on the top of their apartment building.
Rumor says there's a goat living on the roof, but how can that be?
As Kid soon discovers, a goat on the roof may be the least strange thing about her new home, whose residents are both fascinating unforgettable.
In the penthouse lives Joff Vanderlinden, the famous skateboarding fantasy writer, who happens to be blind. On the ninth floor are Doris and Jonathan, a retired couple trying to adapt to a new lifestyle after Jonathan's stroke. Kenneth P. Gill, on the tenth, loves opera and tends to burble on nervously about his two hamsters -- or are they guinea pigs? Then there's Kid's own high-maintenance mother, Lisa, who is rehearsing for an Off Broadway play and is sure it will be the world's biggest flop.
Then Kid meets Will, whose parents died in the Twin Towers. And when she learns that the goat will bring good luck to whoever sees it, suddenly it becomes very important to know whether the goat on the roof is real.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.6
Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narrations.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.9
Compare and contrast stories in the same genre (e.g., mysteries and adventure stories) on their approaches to similar themes and topics.
Author Notes
Anne Fleming is the author of Pool-Hopping and Other Stories (shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, the Danuta Gleed Award and the Governor General's Award), and Anomaly and Gay Dwarves of America . She is a long-time and highly regarded teacher of creative writing who has taught at the University of British Columbia, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Douglas College, Kwantlen University College and the Banff Centre for the Arts. The Goat is her first full-length work for young readers.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-A kid named Kid travels with her parents from her home in Canada to New York City to apartment-sit and dog-sit for a dog named Cat. Her father's uncle is traveling abroad for six months. While this is a great opportunity for her parents (her mother's off-Broadway play is in rehearsals, and her father will use the time to write his own play), Kid is already missing her own pet, a cat, as well as her friends and her school. When she arrives at the apartment building and looks up, she spies a bit of white near the top of the building. Later, upon hearing rumors that a goat lives on the roof, she wonders how that is possible. As she and her father settle into a routine that revolves around calming her anxious, high-maintenance mother, she meets Will, who is homeschooled by his grandmother, who has taken care of him ever since his parents died in the Twin Towers on September 11. Both Will and Kid have their own quirks and fears, and they fall into an easy friendship and soon decide to investigate the mystery of the goat. This slim, slice-of-life novel unfolds slowly as readers are introduced to key residents of the building who may or may not believe there is a goat on the roof. The list of characters is long, and eccentricities abound, but so do charm and warm humor. VERDICT Hand to tweens who prefer quiet, character-driven novels and fans of E.L. Konigsburg.-Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
When Toronto native Kid arrives in New York City with her parents to spend several months looking after a cousin's dog, she expects to see new and unusual things, but the rumor of a goat living atop their building seems farfetched, even for Manhattan. But a goat is indeed there, and adult author Fleming (Gay Dwarves of America) uses humorous third-person narration to chronicle the animal's circumstances and the story of how it arrived on the building, switching attention among multiple characters, both human and animal. Several of them have obstacles to overcome-including the goat's hunger, Kid's social phobia, her friend Will's fear of windows, and an older neighbor's frustration at the physical aftereffects of a stroke-which are dealt with as they search for the goat. Kid's adjustment to New York City, her time in museums, and the warm and unusual neighbors make for a lively yet tender story. Will's parents died during 9/11, a revelation handled with sensitivity, and the novel's underlying theme of people coming together on a shared quest makes for a heartwarming and very New York tale. Ages 9-11. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Something big is happening at a small Manhattan apartment building. Kid and her parents are newly arrived from Toronto for a few months' stay to look after a relative's dog and be in the city as Kid's mom mounts an off-Broadway musical. What makes this building unique in a skyscraper-filled metropolis isn't its architecture but the simple fact that there is a mountain goat living on its roof. When rumor of its existence makes its way to Kid, she grows determined to catch a glimpse of the creature, as a sighting is said to bring seven years' good luck and her parents could use some good fortune. With her new friend Will, whose parents died in the Twin Towers, Kid begins to canvas the building for information about the goat, facing personal challenges in the process and setting in motion a chain of events that neatly links the residents' individual lives into a shared narrative. Fleming manages to accomplish an astonishing amount of storytelling in this slender novel, shifting the point of view among Kid, four tenants, and, most wonderfully, the goat, who dreams of leaving his sad little mountain and gamboling in Central Park. With delicate insight and humor, Fleming cleverly unites people and goats from vastly different walks of life in an offbeat celebration of courage and individuality.--Smith, Julia Copyright 2017 Booklist
