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.
Once again, Paul O. Zelinsky starts the proceedings on the endpapers: in the upper left-hand corner, readers see Cat, Zebra and Kangaroo (with her joey) quietly reading at a library table, while Moose joyfully holds up the very book he plans to, ahem, revise. He peeks out of a semicircle before bursting through the "Triangle" of the title page to make it Circle, Square, Moose.
Kelly Bingham begins with deadpan text that 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 (Geometric 212 Book) resembles elementary primers, and the words "Shapes" and "circle" appear in a larger type size 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," Moose also uses Cat's ears as examples of triangles, and Queen models for "A diamond is... The shape in a crown." (Queen also tells Moose to "Get down!" from a diamond-shaped sign.)
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. Once again Zelinsky plays with the boundaries of the physical book as Zebra chases Moose over the tops of the pages ("Time to leave now!" says Zebra in a cartoon bubble; "No!" cries Moose). Hilarious mayhem follows as they send bathroom tiles and checkers flying. Moose grabs a long pink ribbon as he exits the right-hand side of a spread while Zebra enters from the left-hand side, and Zebra gets ever more tangled in the ribbon in the next two illustrations.
Now the shoe is on the other hoof, and it's Moose's turn to rescue Zebra. The expressions on the pair's faces as they once again mend their differences and reaffirm their friendship will delight young readers (as will a surprise appearance by a third four-footed friend). 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
Shelf Talker: The stars of one of our Best Books of 2012, Z Is for Moose, are back for a fabulous encore about shapes.