Katarina the goose returns in this follow-up to her initial adventure, chronicled in Judith Kerr's The Other Goose, this time confronting a pond that has been drained. Hoping to follow the water, Katerina, accompanied by her mate Charlie and her goslings, heads into a pipe, determined to find a new and better pond. As this anserine family wanders about underground, the villagers attempt to determine what has happened to the pond, while young Millie Buswell worries about Katarina and co...

Much like its predecessor, as well as many of Kerr's other picture-books, there is an element of absurdity in Goose in a Hole, as all the villagers attempt to refill the pond, in their various ways, and Katarina and family surface at a number of inappropriate places. The conclusion - Katarina and her family come up through the toilet on which Millie is sitting, in the Mayor's house - is vintage Kerr, and had me chuckling. The watercolor artwork here is appealing, as always, and the story quirky and amusing. Recommended to Judith Kerr fans, and to anyone who read The Other Goose. ( )