What About Moose?

March 15, 2015
Fox and friends have plans to build a treehouse, but bossy Moose keeps interferingCooperation is the keyword for Fox and her hardworking co-builders. Unfortunately, Moose thinks he is the most knowledgeable, and he is certainly the bossiest. With a megaphone, he shouts out orders but does not lend a hand. He criticizes, exhorts, advises, and then collapses from the sheer exhaustion of being in charge. Neither Skunk nor Porcupine nor Toad nor Fox measure up to his standards of Moose excellence. Then the walls are completed, and the roof is put in place-but where is Moose? Sharp-eyed readers will see what has happened: Moose is inside the newly completed treehouse and too big to exit through the door. The friends cleverly come to his rescue, and Moose happily learns his lesson. Schwartz and Gomez have crafted a pleasant tale in rhyming couplets about working together, pitching in, and planning ahead. The digitally rendered illustrations are colorful and full of activity as animals clad in work clothes tote tool boxes, measure, lift beams, nail, caulk, drill, and construct. The almost perfectly round Toad alone, clad in pink overalls and safety goggles, with a tiny yellow hard hat perched atop, is practically worth the price of admission. Gentle humor successfully communicates the importance of teamwork to young readers. (Picture book. 4-7)

May 1, 2015

K-Gr 2-As the woodland creatures gather to build a tree house, bossy Moose arrives and takes over as foreman, barking orders and causing discontent. The other animals repeatedly ask him why he isn't helping with the physical labor, but he only replies that being in charge is the hardest job. A rhyming, playful story ends on a happy note, after Moose gets stuck in a sticky situation and the other animals use teamwork to rescue him. The colorful images are soft and playful, with craftily illustrated angst-ridden faces of the forest animals. Moose's commands are depicted in red as they blast through his megaphone. The pages are at times busy, but that only adds to the frantic and overwhelming feel of the story. The vocabulary is heavy at times, with caulking and dictator appearing among the many potentially unfamiliar words. But this offers a great opportunity to build some early literacy skills, along with the singsong rhyming text. VERDICT The life lesson of sharing and being polite are important ones, making this story a good read for most children.-Kaitlin Connors, Virginia Beach Public Library

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