The Goat

December 19, 2016
When Toronto native Kid arrives in New York City with her parents to spend several months looking after a cousin’s dog, she expects to see new and unusual things, but the rumor of a goat living atop their building seems farfetched, even for Manhattan. But a goat is indeed there, and adult author Fleming (Gay Dwarves of America) uses humorous
third-person narration to chronicle the animal’s circumstances and the story of how it arrived on the building, switching
attention among multiple characters, both human and animal. Several of them have obstacles to overcome—including the goat’s hunger, Kid’s social phobia, her friend Will’s fear of windows, and an older neighbor’s frustration at the
physical aftereffects of a stroke—which are dealt with as they search for the goat. Kid’s adjustment to New York City, her time in museums, and the warm and unusual neighbors make for a lively yet tender story. Will’s parents died during 9/11, a revelation handled with sensitivity, and the novel’s underlying theme of people coming together on a shared quest makes for a heartwarming and very New York tale. Ages 9–11.

Starred review from January 15, 2017
There's a goat living on the roof of a New York City apartment building--or is it merely an urban legend?White Toronto native Kid and her parents arrive in the city, where they will live in a cousin's apartment and take care of his dog, Cat, while he is away. Her mom is a scattered, nervous actor who will be appearing in an off-Broadway play that she created. Cousin Doug leaves them a detailed book describing every possible facet of Cat's care and all the people with whom he interacts. Kid feels generally "paralyzed by shyness" except when she is safe in her "family bubble," but she finds herself welcomed by Cat's friends. Brown-skinned Will, whose parents were killed in the twin towers, speaks in Spoonerisms, and is afraid to look out of windows, tells Kid about the goat. Together they are determined to find it, and while involved in their quest, they lose some of their fears. Fleming has created delightfully eccentric and warmhearted characters that exist in a close-knit community in lovely, accurately described New York City venues. The delightfully named, multiply diverse tenants in the building have interesting back stories and are given a turn at expressing their viewpoints. Even the goat tells of his hunger and longings. The convoluted, intricate tale is filled with joy, sweet sadness, and a triumph of spirit. Lovely. (Fiction. 9-12)

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February 1, 2017

Gr 5-8-A kid named Kid travels with her parents from her home in Canada to New York City to apartment-sit and dog-sit for a dog named Cat. Her father's uncle is traveling abroad for six months. While this is a great opportunity for her parents (her mother's off-Broadway play is in rehearsals, and her father will use the time to write his own play), Kid is already missing her own pet, a cat, as well as her friends and her school. When she arrives at the apartment building and looks up, she spies a bit of white near the top of the building. Later, upon hearing rumors that a goat lives on the roof, she wonders how that is possible. As she and her father settle into a routine that revolves around calming her anxious, high-maintenance mother, she meets Will, who is homeschooled by his grandmother, who has taken care of him ever since his parents died in the Twin Towers on September 11. Both Will and Kid have their own quirks and fears, and they fall into an easy friendship and soon decide to investigate the mystery of the goat. This slim, slice-of-life novel unfolds slowly as readers are introduced to key residents of the building who may or may not believe there is a goat on the roof. The list of characters is long, and eccentricities abound, but so do charm and warm humor.

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 15, 2017
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Something big is happening at a small Manhattan apartment building. Kid and her parents are newly arrived from Toronto for a few months' stay to look after a relative's dog and be in the city as Kid's mom mounts an off-Broadway musical. What makes this building unique in a skyscraper-filled metropolis isn't its architecture but the simple fact that there is a mountain goat living on its roof. When rumor of its existence makes its way to Kid, she grows determined to catch a glimpse of the creature, as a sighting is said to bring seven years' good luckand her parents could use some good fortune. With her new friend Will, whose parents died in the Twin Towers, Kid begins to canvas the building for information about the goat, facing personal challenges in the process and setting in motion a chain of events that neatly links the residents' individual lives into a shared narrative. Fleming manages to accomplish an astonishing amount of storytelling in this slender novel, shifting the point of view among Kid, four tenants, and, most wonderfully, the goat, who dreams of leaving his sad little mountain and gamboling in Central Park. With delicate insight and humor, Fleming cleverly unites peopleand goatsfrom vastly different walks of life in an offbeat celebration of courage and individuality.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2017
Although few have seen it, a mountain goat lives on the roof of an apartment building in the heart of Manhattan, and he is hungry, hungry, hungry. He yearns for the fresh grass he sees across the black river of giant moving clumps at the bottom of the cliff. Meanwhile, eleven-year-old Kid and her parents have temporarily moved into the building while her actor mother is appearing in an Off-Broadway show. Kid is fascinated by the possibility of a goat on the roof and is convinced that finding it will bring her nervous mother good luck. Painfully shy, Kid does not initially interact with the other tenants: a blind skateboarder (and famed novelist) who has recently fallen in love, an elderly woman who takes cares of her husband after his stroke, and a middle-aged man who grieves over his dead father and the missed connections in his life. Things start changing for Kid when she makes a new friend. Will, similar in age, is afraid of windows and heights: perhaps due to having lost his parents in the Twin Towers on 9/11. As the book unfolds, Kid and Will help each other overcome their phobias and accept their individual quirks. The story offers insight through the viewpoints of characters of all ages, making it possible for young readers to understand the effects of trauma and how people deal with life's different obstacles; it's also an affectionate and quirky ode to Manhattan. In the end, the assorted characters converge, during a final dramatic goat-chase sequence, from rooftop to Central Parkfinally making, for Kid, the apartment building feel a lot like home. roxanne hsu feldman

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)