I really enjoyed reading this book, and I was very surprised after reading the authors note to find out that it was a true story. This is a great story when learning about finding hope in hard situations. ( )

We enjoyed this story. A well writing book with interesting history.

A cute if mediocre tale of a WWI mascot. The illustrations are charming although not clever and the text is unimpressive. There were parts of the story that cried out for more page-time but its as if the writer wasn't thinking about the target audience and what they would be engaged by.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for review. ( )

It's been a long time since I read any historical non-fiction (I blame post grad school burnout), but I couldn't resist picking up this picture book which explores the true story of Sgt. Billy, the goat who went to war. I first crossed paths with Sgt. Billy when I was researching the stories of Saskatchewan soldiers during World War I for a video series, and the team and I couldn't help but be charmed by this unique story. Clearly we were not the only ones charmed by Sgt. Billy, as he is a permanent feature at the Broadview Museum - and now the star of his own picture book. Messier does an excellent job of weaving his story into a cohesive narrative, and introducing children to this little piece of history. The illustrations as well were well done, as they kept with simple lines and muted tones to give the story a sense of realism. A more cartoonish or bright style absolutely wouldn't have worked for this story, which is about war after all, but the artist did use a subtle hand to make Sgt. Billy and his comrades a little bit cuter for young audiences. ( )

Early Reviewers. It's nice to add a Canadian war animals book to my collection; most available are either all-encompassing or American. The story intrigued me enough to wish for more in-depth information and more detailed pictures. For children, I think this is terrific. 'Sgt Billy' focused on inspiring troops and the relationship between the soldiers and their mascot. The illustrations managed to portray Billy as happy or determined and not scared or drab, even though the color scheme remained full of browns, greens, and greys. ( )