Willoughby Waddle is a goose who travels around England during the time of Shakespeare wanting to be useful. He gets into some trouble and a gentleman stops to help and feed him. Willoughby is grateful and promises to one day be of use to the kind gentleman. He goes to search for the man in a theater called The Globe. After watching the play Willoughby follows the man home. The gentleman, who turns out to be William Shakespeare, is trying to write a play but the quills he uses to write are not working. Willoughby offers one of his quills and Shakespeare is able to complete his play. I loved this book and think it is a good way to explain who William Shakespeare was and what he did and wrote. ( )

Willoughby is a country goose who can't wait to see the big city of London! But once he's there, there is so much noise and busyness that he gets overwhelmed. He's saved by a kind man who gives him a few berries and Willoughby promises to find a way to help the man. He follows him to the Globe theater and saves him from a man with a sword, unaware that he just interrupted a dueling scene of a play. Shakespeare leaves the theater to finish a play, but throws out all of his quills. Willoughby finally is able to help by giving Shakespeare a stronger quill from his wing and saves the day.

This was so cute! I loved the little goose and how he helped Shakespeare write Midsummer. The Globe itself was accurate, because the poorer patrons would have the standing area by the stage. What really stood out was the artwork, because it was colorful and busy watercolors that showed the hectic London. One thing I was unsure about was the dialogue. The rest of the text is in modern language, but the dialogue is in Shakespearean language. I thought it was a cute touch, but younger kids may have trouble reading it. ( )

a little duckling looks around the town with his amazing quill
1 book

Yes, this is the author of Corduroy.  Imo, the story for this is almost as good, and the art is better.  I love the details that reveal a bit of what life in London was like back then.  Yay for thrift stores and Friends-of-the-library sales! ( )

This picture book is about a goose name Willoughby who struggles to survive in the city of Londontown. He meets a young playwright name William Shakespeare, who writes plays. As they are becoming friends, Willougby becomes William's loyal buddy and follows him anywhere he goes, only to lose him along the way. While looking for William, Willouby finds the Globe theater instead. From there, he sees William in a duel on a stage only to not realize it is staged. Although Willouby intervenes to stop the fight and the play was ruined, he gave William an idea how to finish the play. He manage to help William finish writing and creating a play. The setting influence the mood of the story because it creates the characters' feelings and thoughts for readers to understand the conflict. In addition, it sets up the suspense as the reader wonders what will happen next. All in all, a very good book about learning a playwright and writing plays. ( )