The Misiowe zoo booklets were part of a collection prepared by the editors as both an activity and a reading of an illustrated text: children could cut  out the inserts, fold them to form a mini-booklet, read, reread and collect. The Miś’s collection was not limited to the “zoo” theme, but consisted of various booklets on topics that are important to children, usually concerning the world around them. Among them were such topics as “encyclopaedia”, and “fables”. 

The Goose booklet consists of two magazine pages that may be cut out and folded creating a separate 8-page-long booklet. Rather than being a story, it is an informational picture book that presents the goose as a species found in both the natural environment and human household. The author focuses on information obtained while observing nature, explaining the importance of geese for humans, detailing why they are bred and how people benefit from goose down and feathers. The booklet follows the pattern of the collection, combining colourful and black-and-white illustrations with informational text and thought-provoking questions.

The Goose meets an educational goal by introducing a species and its breeds, their characteristics, behaviours, presence in history, language, and everyday life – quite a lot of information for a tiny eight-page picture book. In addition, readers are asked questions that require prior knowledge or help from an adult. Each page is illustrated and text is limited to just three to six verses.

The central place in the middle of the book is devoted to the legend of the Capitoline geese. It refers to geese’s character trait, namely their vigilance, which is underlined as a positive feature that once saved the citizens of Rome from a hostile attack. The legend occupies two pages, accounting for a quarter of the entire book. The text reads as follows: “GEESE are very vigilant. It is a legend that GEESE saved the old city of Rome long ago. When the enemy had been sneaking up at dawn, the GEESE woke up the inhabitants with their squawks. Warned in time, they managed to defend themselves. Do you know another fairy tale about GEESE?” 

The colourful illustration, which is a double-page spread, takes up both centre pages, as does the accompanying text, which is also distributed on both pages. To mark the ancient setting of the legend, the illustrator, Hanna Czajkowska, painted a gaggle of geese attacking a group of bearded warriors against the background of the Mediterranean landscape. Czajkowska chose species of Italian flora that do not grow in Poland, such as the characteristic Mediterranean cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) and Italian stone pine (Pinus pinea), and placed silhouettes of white marble columns and a temple on a hill behind the Capitoline Geese. Although the word ‘Capitoline’ does not appear, children are introduced to the idea of connecting the geese, ancient Rome, and the Mediterranean landscape, which is different to their own.

The educational dimension of the booklet is underlined by the capitalisation of the word ‘GEESE’, the leading theme. In addition, the author summarizes the legend and asks readers if they know any other legends or stories about geese encouraging them to reflect on the just-read legend, strengthen their memory and narrating skills. Since fold-out books usually open in the middle, children can easily remember the illustration of the geese chasing fleeing warriors against an ancient background, leaving them with the impression that the legend of the Capitoline geese is an important part of European cultural heritage.

Michał Rogoż, Czasopisma dla dzieci i młodzieży Instytutu Wydawniczego „Nasza Księgarnia” w latach 1945–1989. Studium historycznoprasowe, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Pedagogicznego, 2009.

The entry presents the result of research conducted within the project “Classical Antiquity in Periodicals for Children and Young Adults in Polish People’s Republic (PRL) – Classical Education, Promotion of Political Ideology, or Expression of Resistance? Changes in the Reception of Classics in the PRL from 1945 to 1989,” funded by the National Science Centre (NCN) Preludium grant no 2022/45/N/HS2/00549.