Visitors to Lexington’s Chiesa Farm may encounter a fuzzy group of goats with coats in shades of creamy white, golden brown, and chocolatey black. The animals whine and bleat, sniff and taste, scramble and leap. But, mostly, they eat. In the city’s conservation land, this little herd of ruminants helps keep invasive species in check. As the goats graze, they roam the land on strong legs, chew the roughage with sharp teeth, and watch their surroundings with wide-set eyes.
Goatherd Halé Sofia Schatz keeps the goats for milk on a half-acre hobby farm called Goodwin Hill. Along with Danny Overton, a longtime farm volunteer, Schatz, who is also an author, has published a new book, The Goats of Goodwin Hill ($24.95, 156 pages), that immerses young readers in a year-in-the-life story about her Nigerian Dwarf goats.
Organized into four seasonal sections, the book begins in spring when the herd’s aged matriarch passes away. Sad? Yes. But her death is quickly eclipsed by a happier event: the birth of twin kids. Atlas and Stella, a sweet brother and sister, are the stars of the story. Goodwin Hill is also home to the twins’ mother, a pair of one-year-old kids, a great-grandmother, and a few more milking goats. Stella, the runt, survives her first cold nights in the Goodwin Hill barn thanks, in part, to a tiny sweater knitted by a friend of the farm. As Stella and Atlas grow, they are doted on by Schatz and a revolving crew of farm volunteers.
The goats’ story is told through invented conversations between the kids and their elders. The dialogue evokes barnyard literature classics written for children, like Kate DiCamillo’s Mercy Watson series and the fable of The Little Red Hen, or an unsentimental version of Charlotte’s Web. The Goodwin Hill gang is a tame bunch, unlike rogue goats in stories like The Three Billy Goats Gruff or Gregory the Terrible Eater. The goats talk through their daily routines and their minor trials, like veterinarian visits, coyote sightings, and messy mud puddles. Obedient and eager to please, Stella and Atlas learn how to leap into the backseat of a car when they embark on their first pasture outing. There, at Chiesa Farm, they enjoy new foods and friendly townspeople who wave at the herd.
Schatz and Overton are unobtrusive characters who explain farm procedures to the animals. Schatz collects forage, fills troughs, trims hooves, cleans stalls, and warms the barn on stormy nights. In turn, the goats provide tasty milk that Schatz turns into cheese and yogurt.
Stella and Atlas charm as they experience milestones like growing into new collars and bells, sleeping in pens for full-grown goats, and romping on stone walls. Stella becomes a full-fledged member of the Goodwin Hill all-female herd while Atlas transitions to a cousin herd of male goats.
Their kid-hood provides both narrative entertainment and education. About every ten pages, the text breaks into fun factoids about goat anatomy and behavior: why goats headbutt and sniff each other, who benefits from consuming goat milk, and how their horizontal pupils scan for threats. The book neatly anticipates readers’ questions, like how do the goats chow down rose bushes and poison ivy? Answer: their mouths are made of thick tissue, their teeth can chomp thorns, and their four-compartment stomachs break down fibrous plants.
Much of the goats’ daily routine revolves around feeding. The book contains many descriptions of pasture salad, some so vivid it’s possible that the authors themselves tasted dandelion greens, oak pollen, and blackberry leaves.
The book is clearly a collaborative, goat-loving community project with a folksy but professional feel. The illustration credits list seven different artists. Although the maps, portraits, and barn-scapes include a variety of styles, the art still feels cohesive as it centers the same subjects.
While the book may have been written with the Goodwin Hill community in mind, the unique blend of fascinating goat facts and observations of a real-life herd appeals to a range of readers. There’s plenty of cozy wisdom to be gleaned from the goats, like this lesson given to Stella and Atlas from one of their aunties: “If you see a bird, stay quiet and relaxed so you don’t scare it. You can have all sorts of interesting experiences in everyday life if you’re curious and calm.”
The plain, matter-of-fact language makes it a good choice for school-aged independent readers who enjoy easy chapter books, or for caregivers who read aloud to younger children. The Goats of Goodwin Hill is a gentle, educational escape into the quaint country rhythms and all-encompassing care required to raise a small herd.
This article was written in partnership with Viva la Book Review.