A Fine Fat Goose For Your Goodly Wife

I'm back! Didja miss me? Didja even notice I was gone? No?

Well I for one am glad to get back into the swing of things. You were all uncommonly kind in terms of drumming up manga titles I didn't know about before, by the way. I do appreciate it. As for the holiday season, I got all sorts of goodies for Christmas too. I got The Art of Reading: Forty Illustrators Celebrate RIF's 40th Anniversary (we have the cover art here at Donnell), a DVD of Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas (how did my husband know?), the Sabuda Wizard of Oz, and other assorted tidbits. But the loveliest of all these, was the goose.

Remember when I lamented at length and in varying tones of sorrow that the Folkmanis goose, the greatest of all goose puppets (J.L. Bell's suggestion notwithstanding) was Out of Stock and unavailable? Moan loudly enough and the heavens themselves shall be wrought asunder and send you a saint in the form of Brian Selznick.

You heard me. Christmas was coming and Mr. Selznick sent me a fat beautiful goose puppet. It's truly lovely. Soft and full and with a head so flexible that it fairly challenges my mouse for the throne of Most Expressive Puppet. Featured (the biggie) below:


This is not just any goose, mind you. It has a history. Says my benefactor:

"When I was working on The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins I was bitten by a goose in the park where the dinosaurs still stand in London. A bookseller gave me this goose puppet in honor of that somewhat painful incident."

So here we have a children's literary goose with a fine pedigree that is just PERFECT for playing Saracen to my Mosca in future booktalks. I couldn't be more pleased. I spent all of yesterday cuddling my (which is to say, Donnell's) new toy. Should any of you care to stop by my library, I'll be happy to show it to you. Yay, Brian Selznick!