It took Mem Fox ten years to get Boo to a Goose published. It didn't take our class ten minutes to fall in love with the lyrical lines and memorize most of the rhyming text! It is yet another of Mem's pattern books that includes repetition, so it is a natural for an innovation. After reading the book a couple of times - until the children joined in on the last line on each page without any prompting - we told the children that we would be writing our own innovation of Mem's picture book for young children. Since our theme is the farm, we listed all the farm animals that we could name. I chose "duck" as my example and "wrote in the air" my own lines of "I'd sit on a duck if you'd give me a buck... but I wouldn't say 'Boo!' to a goose!" Each child worked with a teacher to help refine his lines before writing them down and illustrating, and before you know it, we had our own class innovation of a Mem Fox book! Enjoy some of the examples below.
“BOO!” to a Goose
Adapted from Mem Fox’ Boo to a Goose
by the R&T Farmhands
I'd sit with a pony and marry a phony... But I wouldn't say "BOO!" to a goose.
I'd sit on a dog and I'd croak like a frog... But I wouldn't say "BOO!" to a goose.
I'd sit on a sheep if you give me a jeep... But I wouldn't say "BOO!" to a goose.I'd dance with a bunny if you give me some money... But I wouldn't say "BOO!" to a goose.