21 June 2017 by Christina Barker
Title: Silly Billy – The Wise Goat (Stories of animal sign series)
Author: Xue Lin
Reviewer: Christina Barker
On the front cover, silly Billy is leaping high on a mountain top. He looks powerful and mighty with his uni-horn and colourful coat.
Silly Billy Goat had lived a sad life at the beginning. He wasn’t like the other goats. He decided to join the race even though the other goats had warned him not to because the wolves may try and eat him. He was a brave goat and didn’t give up in the race. He went on to become eighth. On the way home something magical happened and Silly Billy became very wise after drinking some magic water in the forest. When Silly Billy Goat returned, he became the leader of all the goats and fought against the wolves by getting all the goats to work together. He was then trusted and respected, just like the goat he always wished to be.
I really like the message this story conveys. It shows that if we all work together we can form stronger alliances and cooperate as a team. Rather like the team we have at Snowflake Books!
Reviewer: Taylor Brooker
Silly Billy The Wise Goat tells the story of how one small goat wanted to change his life and the fate of all the goats by making them come together as a team to scare off the wolf instead of running away from him forever. This is a great message to send to children because I think they may often feel isolated and as though avoiding a problem is best, but sometimes, standing with friends and family and overcoming a problem is the better thing to do. The story also spreads the message of following your dreams, as Silly Billy wanted to join the animal race, but all of the other goats were against it because it’s not something they’d usually do. However, Silly Billy went through with his dream and competed in the race and came eighth!
The morals in Snowflake’s books are never very obvious, so to a child, it won’t seem as though they are learning life lessons, but they are in a very subtle way, through the story and the visuals. As always, the visuals are engaging and the illustrations are rich in colour and consistent in style, making the book feel like an art gallery!
Look out for more reviews from Taylor and Christina soon!
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