Give a Hoot, Give a Goat! (And Don't Pollute Either!)
Written: Dec 05 '08
Product Rating:
Pros: Inspiring story featuring a great charity; empowers kids and teaches about philanthropy; cute illustrations
Cons: Every kid you know doesn't have a copy yet.
The Bottom Line: Inspiring story about how everyone, even children, can bring about positive change. The messages in the story are worth sharing with children of a wide range of ages.
gliondar's Full Review: Jan West Schrock - Give a Goat
Sorry for the Woodsy Owl reference in the title, but I can't help but think of that dear defender of the Earth from my childhood when I say the title of Jan West Schrock's Give a Goat out loud. Actually this book has nothing to do with fighting pollution, but rather with fighting hunger and poverty, as well as inspiring children to think about how they can help others. Heifer International is one of my personal favorite charities, and when I saw this picture book on the "new" shelf at the local library, the goat on the front with a ribbon around his neck in a crate labelled "Uganda" made me instantly think of that organization. I quickly added the book to my bag based on that impression (I was in a rush) and was pleased to find, during my children's story time, that the book is about a group of school children learning about Heifer International and deciding to raise money to buy a goat for a needy family.
What the Heifer? Hassenpfeffer? This review isn't intended as a commercial, but if you've never heard of Heifer International, let me give you a brief description, which will be key in understanding the plot of this book. Heifer International is a non-profit organization that works to fight hunger and poverty by providing "appropriate livestock, training and related services to small-scale farmers and communities worldwide" (from http://www.heifer.org/). If you look at a Heifer gift catalog (which my children always love to play with because of all the great photos of animals), you'll discover that when you donate a certain amount of money to Heifer, that money pays for the purchase or part of the purchase of an animal or animals of your choice, or even trees, to be donated to a needy family from a variety of loactions worldwide (including the U.S.). The recipients of the livestock (or trees) benefit by being able to provide more and better food for their own family and by being able to sell any surplus of product from that livestock (e.g. eggs, milk, wool, etc.) and thus increase their quality of life. Heifer employs a "pay it forward" philosophy which they call "passing on the gift." Recipients of livestock agree to give the first offspring of their animal(s) to another family in need which can then benefit from having those animals in the same way as the first family. Thus, a donation to Heifer has a ripple effect as one gift leads to another and another and so on. And their gifts aren't simple hand-outs; they're keys to self-reliance and a means to feel empowered by helping others once you've been given help yourself. You can make a donation to Heifer in someone else's name and receive a gift card to present to them saying that a gift of such and such animal has been made on their behalf, with a little explanation of Heifer's work. I've given such gifts to a few of my friends for Christmas or birthdays. Flocks of chicks ($20) and honeybees ($30) were within my budget, although if you have deep pockets you can spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on various animals or groups of animals.
And now back to our originally scheduled programming... Mrs. Rowell's fifth grade class is listless one rainy afternoon when she turns to the bookshelf to perk them up. She shares a story with her students called Beatrice's Goat (a real book), about a girl in Uganda whose family couldn't afford to send her to school. The family received the gift of a goat and got healthier because of the milk it provided. By selling the surplus milk, they made enough money to send Beatrice to school.
Give a Goat is told from the perspective of one of Mrs. Rowell's students, and this unnamed student says that after hearing Beatrice's story, the whole class became inspired and wanted to be able to "give a goat." Their teacher takes them seriously and offers to help. The student and his or her (based on the pictures, it's a her, but from the text the narrator could be either sex) friend Ralph go to the library, and their librarian is familiar with the book they've read and tells them about Heifer. The kids look up the organization's web site and get the gist of their work, as explained above. They talk to their classmates and the group decides they want to raise enough money to buy a goat--$120.
Mrs. Rowell agrees that the students can use an upcoming math unit to set up a store in the school to raise the money. I enjoyed the brainstorming session of the students as they decided what to sell (snacks), and the subtle extra lesson provided by Mrs. Rowell as she suggested a healthier option (the children settle on selling raisins, nuts and popcorn rather than cookies and other junk food). Mrs. Rowell gives the kids a small loan to buy their supplies in bulk, and they learn several new concepts when setting up their store, which are mentioned in the text and could provide springboards for further discussion with the children with which you share this book. These include ideas like accounting, inventory, investment, etc.
At first the kids set up a table in the teachers lounge with a sign declaring "BUY A HEALTHY SNACK SO WE CAN GIVE A GOAT." This catches the attention of teachers, and the explanation of their project leads to steady sales. They go on to sell to students at recess and to spectators during a school basketball game. In the end, they earn enough to pay back Mrs. Rowell and to pay for the goat goal, as well as a flock of chickens and some ducks. "We weren't going to help one family--it was way better than that--we were going to help three families! Imagine, a whole bunch of children could go to school because of our math project!"
Although the subjects of poverty and hunger are heavy ones, this book isn't dense or difficult to read, and I think it would keep the attention of most older children. It kept my toddlers' attention, but that was likely due in large part to the amusing illustrations provided by Aileen Darragh. I love it when there is a recurring element in the illustrations of a picture book. Here, once the kids have heard Beatrice's story and decide they would like to give a goat, the pictures consistently feature a cute goat hanging out in the background or participating in the activity. For instance, he sits at a computer in the library (my daughter thought that was hilarious), chews on a pencil during discussions of record keeping, and pilots a plane full of parachuting chickens as the kids try to imagine how Heifer might deliver the animals to their recipients (parachutes are NOT involved).
Jan West Schrock is the daughter of the man who founded Heifers for Relief, which later became Heifer International, and she is a senior advisor for the organization, according to her profile on the back flap of the book jacket. If you look up more about the history of Heifer on the organization's web site, you can learn more about Dan West, the author's father, and how he got the idea to start this system of giving (see http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.201520/). I don't see any mention in the book about profits going to Heifer, and I wish there was some indication as to whether this was the case.
This book is inspiring on many levels and there are so many opportunities for further exploration with children. Be sure to check out the publisher's web site (as mentioned at the end of the book) for a special "Teachers Take Note" section for this book with activities, discussion points and resources (see http://www.tilburyhouse.com/Children%27s%20Frames/child_give_a_goat.html), as well as Heifer's "read to feed" program (at www.readtofeed.org, soon to become part of HeiferEducation.org, according to their web site).
And the text doesn't simply campaign for donations to Heifer. The class of goat-givers inspire other classes in their school to find a way to make their own contributions to society. For example, one class holds a canned food drive for a local food pantry and another washes cars to benefit the Red Cross. The main lesson of the book isn't "give money to Heifer," but rather to inspire children to think about others less fortunate than them and to realize that even as children they can make a difference with their actions. "I was surprised and sad to find out that so many families need help. But I felt good knowing sometimes a gift can make a big difference. After all, our class had made a difference for three families just by selling snacks." That's a lesson worth sharing with kids at any time of year, but even more so during the winter holidays. Goat bless us, every one. (I know, but I couldn't help it!)
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