Review: Billy and Goat at the State Fair

Dan Yaccarino shares two new characters - Billy and Goat. Billy is a young boy and his friend, Goat, who is an actual goat. Goat is outgoing and looks for adventures. Billy is more reserved. Together they balance each other out and have fun adventures together. Billy and Goat visit the state fair first to win a blue ribbon then to have a fantastic time exploring the fair. After reading Billy and Goat at the Stat Fair, I wonder if this new duo will appear in other adventurous tales together.

Billy and Goat at the State Fair is a children's picture book. I read the book before listening to the story. The book was fun with wonderfully bright illustrations. I listened to the audiobook without the picture book in front of me. The book as well as the audiobook stand alone very well. If readers want to follow along with the story, it would be an excellent pairing, too. Dreamscape Media does not add page signals to the story, but the pauses between sentence and phrases are well placed. Dreamscape Media also adds music and sound effects underneath the story. Their audio is crafted very well. The music is fun and upbeat with a little country flavor. The sound effects were subtle, but cleverly places. Goat bleats every once in while, but not overwhelming. Well done, Dreamscape!

Kirby Heyborne narrates Billy and Goat at the State Fair. Upon my first listen of the audiobook, I thought the pace was so s...l...o...w. On the second listen, I had to shake my head. This is a fantastic pace for a book! Children who are beginning readers or learning to read need an even and slow pace to follow along or read with the narrator. As an adult, I'm accustomed to a faster pace and I've also learnedthe skills of listening and reading. Children are constantly learning and having a faster pace doesn't allow them time to comprehend what is happening around them. To sum it all up, excellent pace Mr. Heyborne. It captured the story and the listener was able to follow along with a book or create a picture in their imagination.

Reviewed from an Audiobook Jukebox copy. Thank you, Dreamscape Media, LLC!

Audio Book Details...
Billy and Goat at the State Fair by Dan Yaccarino
Read by Kirby Heyborne
Produced by Dreamscape Media, LLC
Number of Discs: 1
Total Time: 7 minutes
ISBN: 9781681411576