Review by Vivian Paschal -- The Mountain and The Goat

[Vivian Paschal]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Mountain and The Goat" by Siamak Taghaddos.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The Mountain and the Goat is a children’s book written by Siamak Taghaddos and illustrated by Zachary Cain. It was published by Poetti in 2020. It tells the story of an unnamed persona, presumably a child, who ran to the mountain and came across a goat. The goat gifted the persona some water and bread which moved the latter to embark on a progressive journey of barter. In the course the journey, the persona found an opportunity in every object and made a new opportunity out of it by exchanging each material with another person for another material.

The book aims to, in the words of the author, spark a lifetime of progression. Through the book, Siamak Taghaddos attempts to plant the seed of entrepreneurship in children. He encourages children to take opportunities and be resourceful. I found this objective to be a noble one. Children learn many life lessons from the books they read. Presenting them with an opportunity to learn to grow wealth from the little they have is important. I believe that this book does that well.

What captivated me the most about the book is the author’s employment of an unnamed first-person persona. The reader is able to relate to the story personally because there is no particular character attached to the story. One can easily replace the personal pronouns with one’s own name. I believe that this will help children subconsciously imbibe the lessons of the story. I also enjoyed the flow of the narration. The story is told through light poetry, and it almost reads like a nursery rhyme.

I was particularly impressed with the author’s inclusion of the need to take naps. In a world where great emphasis is placed on working while others sleep in order to attain greatness, it is important to remind readers, especially children, of the importance of resting.

However, I was unsatisfied with the book because I found the illustrations in it to be inadequate. The book takes the form of a picture book, but the persona is not included in the pictures. I have mentioned that an unnamed persona is helpful in making the book personal to readers. The same might not apply to the illustrations. Learning to read pictures is a literacy skill. It is important for children to develop visual literacy from an early age. The illustrations are incomplete without the persona's picture. It makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the picture to be accurately interpreted by children.

There isn’t much editing needed in a book of this nature, but I can comfortably say that the book was professionally edited. I rate The Mountain and the Goat 3 out of 4 stars . Even as an adult, I loved the book. Yet, I cannot rate it 4 stars because of the unsatisfactory illustrations. It goes without saying that this book is for children. It can be read by any child who has attained reading age. In fact, it would be a great book for toddlers who are learning to read. Still, there is no harm in adults reading this very short and easy read.

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The Mountain and The Goat
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