Gozzle: A funny and heartwarming story about family from the creators of The Detective Dog

A lovely story my 4 year old and I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the ending. Easy to read and heartwarming. Julia at her finest!

You know you are in a second childhood (or not out of the first) when the highlight of the month is a new Julia Donaldson release! The current stock images above give a fair idea of the content and I simply love it, especially those facial expressions in the superbly atmospheric illustrations, by Sara Ogilvie, which generally have that 'the more you look; the more you see' (and ponder over) element!The durable hardback measures roughly 25.5 cm x 28.5 cm; the thick board cover opening to 44 good quality, matte-finish pages with the story running across double-page spreads (bar the first and last).ooOooFrom the back cover (image below refers):🐻~ ‘Meet Bear, who lives on his own and likes it that way.Enter Gozzle, a lively little gosling who is looking for a home...'ooOooThe two main characters feature on the colourful front cover that has a shiny finish in part.Inside, various onlookers are dotted around, as Bear does his best to distance himself from the persistent, somewhat repetitive little gosling that thinks he is her ‘daddy’!As we progress through the seasons, ‘Gozzle’ grows up and there is a twist in the tale, but I couldn’t possibly spoil that, or the ending (other than say that various emotions are covered).The text, sometimes capitalised, is a good size in black throughout and uses the rounded lower case ‘a’ that I much prefer to see, along with the (repetitive) use of ‘all right’ rather than the contraction. Snippets of information are nonchalantly woven into the text in that ‘learning without realising’ that I so love in a picture book.An easy 5 stars, for me and mine.(Not keen on stickers on books, I can confirm that the one on the front cover removes without trace, if desired.)

I read to a group of parents and young children and this was an instant hit! The pictures are large and easy to see from a distance of a metre or so and the words are simple but get the story across welI (I do add a little voice for Gozzle). This is perfect for younger readers and great if you are readying a toddler to move on to nursery or other life changes.

Quick delivery.Another good book from Julia Donaldson.

Really good book and excellent value for money

Love a hard back book! Really lovely book, it got me and my son giggling a few times but overall it’s just a really nice read and story! Everything Julia Donaldson writes is fab so didn’t expect any less

Very disappointing. Our 4 year old loves a lot of Julia Donaldsons stories but this one feels like it was written by a 4 year old. The storyline is nice, but it has no flow when reading and before we’re halfway through his attention is lost.

Both my 3 and 6 years old children like this book. Especially my 6 year old son, he regularly opts for this as a bedtime read. Beautiful illustrations throughout.