Picture Book Promos

The Little Green Goose by Adele Sansone

Illustrated by Alan Marks (1999 edition)

Illustrated by Anke Fause (2010 edition)

One story, originally written in German. Two translations and illustrations, published in English a decade apart. While the tale is essentially the same, in many ways they are different.

Mr. Goose longs to be a parent, but, having no mate, he cannot hatch an egg. When his friend Daisy, a dog, finds an egg, he gives it to Mr. Goose, who promptly settles down to hatch it, all the while dreaming of raising his very own gosling. What a surprise when the egg hatches and out pops a little green scaly animal with a long tail! Mr. Goose doesn’t mind. He loves being a daddy.

One day the other barnyard chicks forget their manners and tease the Little Green Goose, pointing out that he isn’t really a goose and the Mr. Goose can’t really be his father. The Little Green Goose runs away in tears, and decides to look for his real father. After meeting several other green animals – none of which are his father – Little Green Goose realizes that it doesn’t matter how different he looks from him; Mr. Goose is his real daddy.

Regardless of the edition, this is a sweet non-traditional adoption tale. The more recent illustrations and translation leads itself more easily to sharing with young children. The illustrations are more appealing, and the text reads more smoothly, and the placement of the text on the page just looks nicer, actually adding to the smooth flow of the story. There are a lot of sentences and phrases that are the same word for word, but there are also many that are not. If I had to choose between the two versions, I would pick the newer one to share with others.

Here is the 1999 edition's cover, though in Spanish.