Is this book cute—yes!  It is amusing and David Slonin’s illustrations are excellent.

It features Tilly, a silly goose, who does all sorts of goofy (and sometimes annoying and even destructive) things to elicit laughs from others. Eventually, the other animals tire of Tilly and shun her until she quits acting obnoxiously. She complies, but then the other animals feel bored and apologize to Tilly for asking her to quit acting up.  Tilly begins her hijinks again, “and all the farm is happy again.” The end.

My problem with Silly Tilly it is the take-away of the book—which is that is GOOD to act silly (even destructively) so long as it makes others laugh.  This might be a fine lesson for an aspiring comedian, but it is not what children on the cusp of going to school should be taught.

Kids are copycats, and this book depicts and celebrates a cute character who is an attention-seeking class-clown.