That Is NOT a Good Idea! by Mo Willems (review)

Silent films are the inspiration for Mo Willems’ new outing, with a cast of players including “Hungry Fox, Plump Goose, and Baby Geese.” When Hungry Fox and Plump Goose lock eyes across a picturesque cobblestoned street, it’s love at first sight. Or is it? The fox invites the goose for a stroll, then asks her into the “deep, dark woods” and then into his “nearby kitchen,” which delights the goose; the goslings, however, interject a warning (“That is NOT a good idea!”) that gets stronger by a “really” with each new step toward vulnerability. The joke’s on the fox—and the first-time reader—however, as the goose turns out to have been luring the fox into the soup pot all along, and it’s the fox to whom her goslings have been issuing a sportsmanlike warning. The cinematic layout balances silent-movie dialogue slides, white text on black backgrounds with flourish-touched borders, with full-page scenes of Fox and Goose and zoomed round-bordered close-ups of Goose, seemingly innocently eyeing the camera; the goslings’ warnings are intercut like warnings from a Greek chorus, albeit a comically fuzzy yellow Greek chorus. Kids will clamor for a re-viewing and be pleased to note that the book cleverly sets itself up for the story going either way. This is also a delight to voice, with the goslings particularly enjoyable to act out, so you could easily draft kids to handle the warnings themselves or set this up as a dramatic piece.