Eliza worries what will become of her pet goat, Gerda.

Gerda is always getting into scrapes. She causes more trouble than three sheep, five hens, and Eliza's little brother put together. Gerda chews through trees until their trunks stand like skeletons. She raids the neighbor's apple orchard and gobbles all their laundry on the clothes line.

Readers will laugh at Gerda's antics, until it's clear her future seems doomed.

"That goat will have to go," says Dad.

Eliza can't imagine life without Gerda, so she makes a tough decision: they can't take Gerda away if they can't find her. But the family hasn't seen the last of the goat yet. When a neighbor's child falls into the river, Gerda butts in -- at the right time for once.

Luckily for Gerda, and for Eliza, the goat's heroics earn her a new home with the neighbors.

Black and white line drawings capture the endearing qualities of Gerda.