The Goat

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 Park--finally making, for Kid, the apartment building feel "a lot like home." roxanne hsu feldman