A new alphabet book finally arrived at the library: Kelly Bingham's Z is for Moose, illustrated by Paul Zelinsky. Having seen the cover and glimpsed a few inside pieces via Paul's website, I was anxious to discover just how Z could represent a moose. It begins as Moose lifts the curtain, revealing a line of creatures and objects, obviously ready to star in a pageant of letters. From there, it seems to be an ordinary alphabet book. Zebra is the director and checks off each item on his clipboard. A is for Apple. B is for Ball. C is for Cat. But D is not for duck (who clearly is upset about being upstaged by Moose). At this point, the text is interrupted with hand-lettered speech bubbles. Moose continues to invade the stage space, appearing in the ice cream, on a jar of jam, and even as a joey in the kangaroo's pouch. Things get quite interesting around letter O. Moose and Zebra need to make things right, and they do, right at the end. Young readers will love this as much as I did!
Note: I haven't seen a moose since 2003 in Grand Teton, but I see deer every morning when I'm walking/running.
A sweet little critter!
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