This picture book followed a woman named Ms. Goshsquash that teach lessons to children.

I enjoyed the art style. I wasn’t as much of a fan of the font, and there were times it blended into the background color a bit and made it a little difficult to read. The rhyming nature of the book would probably make it fun to read out loud to children.

I’m not really sure how I feel about the story itself - the kids did learn to behave better, but I also feel like part of the reason they learned to behave is because they’re afraid of being punished by this mysterious old woman, which is less of a good lesson for kids.

Ms. Goshsquash tells the story of three naughty children who learn to behave with Ms. Goshsquash's help. It teaches children about the consequences of their actions and how things you do can affect others. It has beautiful illustrations to accompany the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

I really love the artwork in this book, it's really beautiful. But the story is just a little odd. It was creepy, then OK, then creepy, then OK. So it was a strange read. I also felt like the rhyming was a bit forced, which is a shame.

"Ms. Goshsquash" by Lola Coleman really captures the spirit of old, time-worn fairy tales. The mysterious, dramatic Ms. Goshsquash is intended to motivate children (without frightening them *too* much) towards good behavior.

That message, however, seems out-of-touch with modern stories and morals. The reader is left wondering what sorts of punishments Ms. Goshsquash would mete out to disobedient children, and whether the fear of this magical woman is sufficient or appropriate motivation to behave. And these days, fear is seen as a motivator of last resort: one would hope that these children could learn to be good for the sake of being good. The book attempts to capture the flow of modern poetry, but does not achieve a successful rhythm. The rhymes are similarly not-quite-right, beginning with "Goshsquash" being an awfully difficult word to fit in.

The illustrations are gorgeous and the intentions are noticeable, but the execution of this work leaves much to be desired.

The best part of Ms. Goshsquash is the illustrations, as they are all watercolor style paintings. However, the book itself received a huge thumbs down from my kids. The book attempts a rhyming prose but often awkwardly fits in phrases that just don't flow well. This text still needs some major editing. The story itself....a book which tells kids to be compliant and not to question anything or think for themselves lest they be punished by some strange whose sole joy in life is punishing "naughty" children? Big pass for us. Honestly, my kids didn't even want to finish the book. It was that bad.

Disclaimer: An advance copy was provided by the publisher.

This is a wonderful story to teach others to take a good look at ourselves and how our actions affect others. When we are unkind and cruel those actions usually come back on us in a negative way.

The illustrations are the best part of this book. The first time I read it, I read it silently. I struggled with the cadence, or honestly, the lack thereof. The second time I read it, I read it aloud to my daughter. The variation in syllables made it difficult to read smoothly. Sometimes the rhyming words are close together, and sometimes there are long sentences separating them. There doesn't appear to be any structure to the rhyming. The book is a little too specific about the bad behaviors the children in the story have. When reading a book to children about behaving, you want to focus on the positive rather than naming several bad things that the characters do, such as cussing and hitting your sibling with a broom. Lastly, the ending is very abrupt.

I received a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and DartFrog Books.

I was reading this book to my 5 year old while waiting for an appointment. I noticed that other children and parents where also listening. Beautifully illustrated story about 3 students sent to Ms. Goshsqaush’s farm for misbehaving. Well written and great book for reading aloud and having fun with. Thank You to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a cute story! I absolutely loved the illustrations and the name Goshsquash will be so catchy for children. This was a fun and magical take on how to address bullying by making children reflect on their behavior and how it affects others. I would definitely purchase this for a child!

I liked this illustrations in this book, but the story just didn't flow or make sense to me. I like the concept, but it just didn't flow and didn't work.

I read this book the other night and found the illustrations to be beautiful, but the story slightly lacking.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this arc.
This was such a delightful children’s book talking about how you shouldn’t be mischievous and go to school. Ms. Goshsquash sounds like an urban legend who helps kids be better and that is just so folktake like. The watercolour illustrations are absolutely gorgeous, will definitely be checking out the illustrator.

A big thank you to NetGalley and DartFrog Books for the ARC. This is a children's book. Ok, I found this to be utterly odd. I loved the artwork, but the story??? There is no story. Scaring children to behave? Reading a book to them about a story scaring children to behave? My kids would not want to read this a 2nd time. There is no cohesion, no character development. Only some odd rhymes. Not for me but I am sure some would say this works. 3 stars

Ms. Goshquash came totally out of left field for me. I knew nothing about the book when I picked it up, and didn't expect the turn it took in the story. You may just enjoy this refreshing tale of what being a bully will get you, and that it's always better to be kind. The rhyming scheme didn't hit right for me. The watercolor illustrations were lovely.

A simple story about an old lady named Ms. Goshsquash who, while looking deceptively sweet, has her own method of punishing children who have been naughty in any way. She finds three children bunking school one day and proceeds to give them a taste of their own medicine, but in magical ways.

While the story might be a little scary for really young children, it can also be seen as adventurous and fun-filled, depending on what kind of child is reading it. A naughty child might be apprehensive and a good-natured child will be glad to see bullies being punished. The message of the book is quite clear: your actions always have consequences so you need to behave better.

The writing is in rhythmic verse, but some of the rhymes were a miss for me. They seem to be there just so that there was something to rhyme. For instance, there is a yak who has absolutely no role to play in the story but exists for the sole purpose of rhyming with “black”. (The irony is that ‘yak’ and ‘black’ don’t rhyme!) The meter of the sentences varies a lot. In some cases, each line is so long that there’s an entire long sentences rhyming with another long sentence. It almost seems like a prose story than a rhyming one in such instances.
The illustrations looked quite unusual with in their pastel-like strokes but in watercolour. They add to the appeal of the book by making it seem less portentous.

Overall, a good read but not exceptional. This could be a good addition to libraries.

Thank you to NetGalley and DartFrog Books for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖
𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Ms Goshsquash
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: Lola Coleman
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Children's Fiction
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

𝐆𝐔𝐒𝐇:
• Great introduction or place for discussion on the concept of consequence for children
• The illustration had a gorgeous, soft colour palette and utilised a watercolour style and thus evoked a gentle atmosphere whilst reading
• The rhyme and rhythm flowed nicely

𝐆𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐄:
• Due to the art style and texts, some sections were difficult to see/read

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬: empathy, actions have consequences

𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫: young children (4+)

Thank you to @NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠: 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐣𝐨𝐲.𝐜𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞.

Ms. Goshsquash is a timeless tale of naughty children being punished. The watercolor illustrations are gorgeous with an uneasy feeling with the motion. The rhyme scheme of the book is wonderful and flows beautifully.

The book looks at self-reflection as a way for kids to understand what they are doing is wrong. It wasn't overbearing, and it can be understood easily by children in this age group. I definitely recommend it.

One thing I noticed in the book is some of the words fall into darker parts of the art, making it a bit difficult to read the words. There are some times where the lines of the book also seem disconnected because the book was formatted to fit the illustration and disregarded the confusion starting a new line mid-thought would create, but this is minimal and did not distract much from the reading overall.

Ms. Goshsquash is a story about three young kids who have been bullies up to this point. They’re suddenly transported to Ms. Goshsquash’s house where she teaches them what it truly means to be kind.

I liked this one! I think it might freak out kids that are really young but I think for anyone over 5, it’s a good introduction into a discussion about kindness! The art was really cute too, it was simplistic but with stunning colours. I loved the fact that this book rhymed too!

I’d recommend this one, for sure!

4/5⭐️

We loved the rhyming text and enjoyed the illustrations, but we avoid using good/bad for labeling, and prefer “bad behavior”, not bad kids, so the overall story wasn’t something I would recommend or read a second time.

Thank you to NetGalley and DartFrog Books for an ARC of Ms. Goshsquash. The illustrations were wonderful and really had a texture to them, but the storyline left me a little underwhelmed. I love the concept of a little 4 foot old lady getting naughty kids into line by holding up a mirror to their bad behaviors. However, it felt like the story was either under developed or had distracting details that never were fully addressed
(the farm, the cow, the pet yak, etc). The ending was also abrupt. Nonetheless I think this could be a great story with a bit more polishing!