Vande Velde, Vivian. 
THREE GOOD DEEDS
Orlando : Harcourt, 2005.
IL 3-6, RL 6.1
ISBN  0152053824

(2 booktalks)

Howard had a problem.  One day, when he joined in with the other boys in Dumphrey’s Mill, teasing the ugly old village witch, She retaliated by turning him into a goose…an actual goose, with feathers and webbed feet, able only to say “honk”!  She informed him that there was only one way out of his predicament. He must perform three genuine good deeds.  But how was he to do that in his present condition? Follow Howard on his quest and find out how this prankster-turned- poultry attempts to carry out his mission, and what he learns along the way.  (New Hampshire Great Stone Face 2007)

Booktalk #2

Booktalk #

Howard was neither a particularly good or bad boy. He was just Howard, an average boy, who with his best friend Roscoe, would engage in their pretend play, and sometimes get into light trouble on occasion. But on one afternoon when Roscoe wasn't around, and with nothing special to do, Howard chose to go to Goose Pond and steal some eggs. Although Howard knew that the old, ugly witch of Dumphrey's Mill, where she lived, loved and protected the geese, he was careless and unconcerned she may be near and watching. But as you might have guessed, the witch was watching and turned Howard into a goose!

If you thought Howard was just your run-of-the-mill boy before, he was a very strange goose indeed. It was just as if How-Word, as the geese pronounced his name, appeared out of nowhere. The geese didn't know or trust him, and of course, the Dumphrey Mill villagers didn't know him, at least, not as a goose. How-Word thought they might even try to capture him and cook him in a pot if he approached them too closely!  The only way How-Word could get out of this situation, according to the witch, was to perform three good deeds.  Howard thought, well, that's no sweat, I'll just try my best.  Well, Howard didn't realize how hard performing those three good deeds would be, especially if the witch ignored him or wasn't around to notice. In the meantime, he would have to learn and act like a goose too. The only question remaining was how long would he actually have to stay in his goose-like condition? He didn't want to think about it.  (Lisa Murno, murnol@guilford.k12.ct.us, librarian)