Having disrupted a dramatic presentation of the alphabet in Z Is for Moose, the enthusiastic antlered hero is back, stirring up trouble in a lesson on shapes.
The deadpan text paves the way to the heightened comedy to follow. "Shapes are all around us," the book begins. "Have you ever looked at a button? This one is a... circle." The font resembles elementary primers, and the words "shapes" and "circle" appear in larger type for emphasis. A sandwich illustrates "square." But before the text on the opposite page can explain that squares are made of four equal sides, Moose jumps in to take a bite. "Hey! Don't eat that!" reads a large rose-tinted rectangle stamped across Moose's snout. Fans of Z Is for Moose will recognize members of the supporting cast: Pie demonstrates a "triangle," and Queen models for "A diamond is... The shape in a crown." By now, the omniscient narrator has had enough of Moose: "Okay. You have to leave. You are ruining the book." Zebra steps in to "handle" the situation--or so he thinks. Zebra chases Moose over the tops of the pages, and Moose grabs a long pink ribbon, in which Zebra gets ever more tangled in the next two illustrations. Now the shoe is on the other hoof, and it's Moose's turn to rescue Zebra.
Bingham and Zelinsky pace this rollicking adventure with clockwork precision, tucking in surprises along the way, but never losing sight of their primary focus: the friendship between Moose and Zebra. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness