Jane Bregoli

The people of Dartmouth, Massachusetts didn't care for Noelie Lemire Houle, the elderly French-Canadian woman who lived in a rundown farmhouse with peeling paint, crooked doors, and white goats milling about in the yard. They didn't like the noise created by Noelie's animals, complained of the fact that her house was a neighborhood eyesore, and objected to her unkempt personal appearance - her mismatched clothing, and coat held together with twine.

And then one day, artist Jane Bregoli and her two young children moved into the area, and through their friendship with the "Goat Lady," and a series of portraits shown at a local art exhibit, they introduced Dartmouth to the Noelie they didn't know: the gentle, kind-hearted woman who treated her animals like her own children, and who was always willing to share her goat's milk with those in need. The widow whose family had once owned all the surrounding land, until it had had to be sold off, to pay for medical treatment for her husband's illness. The generous soul who frequently sent her extra goats to Heifer International, so that the impoverished people in other countries might also enjoy their good milk - milk that had helped with her own terrible arthritis.

I can see why The Goat Lady (yet another phenomenal picture-book from Maine-based publisher, Tilbury House) was given an ASPCA Henry Bergh Children's Book Award - "established to honor books that promote the humane ethic of compassion and respect for all living things" - as the gentle narrative, told from the perspective of one of Bregoli's children, really emphasizes Noelie's love for her animals, and the great care she took of them. It also highlights the importance of looking beneath the surface, and trying to really get to know other people, offering a poignant example of how easy it can be to devalue and disparage our fellow human beings - especially the elderly - based on nothing more than our own shallow misperception of who they are.

A tribute to a wonderful old woman, The Goat Lady is also a beautiful work of art, reproducing Bregoli's luminous portraits of Noelie - sitting in a chair with a goat on her lap, standing in the door of her barn, in her twine-bound coat - and presenting an engaging story that reminds us of our shared humanity. Highly recommended!… (altro)