Read this for the third time (it’s 84 pages, illustrated) and this time I did it aloud to Luke. It’s the story of a girl named Capable living in the town of Frip who’s exhausted from her job of brushing off gappers from her goats on a daily basis. Gappers are baseball-sized, multi-eyed creatures that adhere themselves to goats and then shriek joyfully. The goats get put out. Capable’s neighbors are buffoons and she comes up with a plan. It’s a bizarre and occasionally funny tale which has the importance of being neighborly as a lesson learned. George Saunders is more well-known for his offbeat short story collections (I’ve read ‘em). This book is gorgeously illustrated by Lane Smith (of Stinky Cheese Man fame). ( )

A Delightful Little Illustrated Fairy Tale Short Story for All Ages

In the small town of Frip – three houses and three families living by the sea – the main economy is goat milk and goat cheese. But, the town is plagued by Gappers; Gappers are small dim-witted, multi-eyed, orange, sticky, ball-sized creatures (like Tribbles, but not as cute) that love goats. They love goats so much that, if left unattended, they cover the goats from head to toe and so traumatize them that goats stop producing milk and thus shut down the economy of Frip.

As with any well represented agrarian culture, it falls to the children to brush the Gappers from the goats and drop them into the nearby sea; a chore that is performed as much as eight times a day to keep the goats Gapper free. Each time the Gappers are dropped into the ocean, they regroup and return to land and divide themselves equally among the three families until one day a slightly less dim-witted Gapper decides they should all go to the closest house; this house belongs to Capable and her grieving father.

As Capable struggles with the growing burden of having only her goats loved to death by the Gappers, the other two families are free to pursue their own endeavors – mainly being petty and selfish. Capable though lives up to her name and expands her horizons a bit leading to a battle of wits and wills among the small town of Frip.

This is a simple moral tale of community that was a joy to read. Both children and adults will find this tale useful in their everyday lives – whether it be on the playground or in the board room. ( )

Cute, odd, children's story. I thought it was going to be for adults as well, and it is, as much as Horton Hears a Who is. ( )

Adorable! ( )

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