Z is for Moose by Kelly L Bingham and Paul O Zelinsky

Z is for Moose by Kelly L Bingham and Paul O Zelinsky
Buy Z is for Moose by Kelly L Bingham and Paul O Zelinsky at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Zoe Morris
Summary: A mixed up alphabet book this will have them rolling around in laughter at the silly Moose who wants his turn in the spotlight.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: November 2013
Publisher: Andersen
ISBN: 978-1849397810
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Zebra is directing the words. He has a clipboard, and everything. All he needs to do is get them into order, alphabetically, and onto the right page. It can’t be that hard. Look,

A is for Apple
B is for Ball
C is for Cat

He's sitting contently on the third page. But who’s that over on the next one – Moose? D isn’t for Moose! It’s for duck, but the poor little quackers have been pushed off the stage by the exuberant elk. No, says Zebra. You’re on the wrong page, he tells Moose.

On goes the alphabet. E is for elephant, F for fox. It’s a long way to M though, and Moose really doesn’t want to wait. Finally, it’s his turn but WHAT???? M is for Mouse???? In a very Hollywood style, Zebra shrugs and says We decided to go with the mouse this time

This won’t do. Moose is outraged, and he doesn’t hesitate to show it. How can they simply miss him out of the book?

If you’re still trying to get the ABC message across, then this book might not be the one you need for now. But once they’ve understood the idea of different letters, what they look like, their place in the alphabet and how they sound in words, once they’ve grasped the rules, well, then it’s time to break them. Ultimately, all the letters do feature, though you might have to track down some of them, like O, P and Q which are all a jumble following Moose’s rampage.

This is a funny book that really engages you. Cue lots of shouting at the pages and correcting of the silly Moose when he gets it wrong and tries to shoehorn himself in out of turn. And then, awww, feeling sorry for the little fellow. It’s not nice to be left out. But is there any hope of a reprieve as the letters pass by? In the end, it’s a children’s book, and the finale has to be happy or funny (or both) and this one delivers, without making any life-changing amendments to the alphabet.

Moose is a character, and well portrayed in the bright illustrations. The pictures are clear so they will know the item even if they can’t read the accompanying word all by themselves yet. They can flick through it on their own, but it’s really one for sharing together, one on one or in a small group, so you can make sure they understand that Z isn’t really for Moose…

Thanks go to the publishers for supplying this book.

For more traditional ABC books, we can recommend Kipper's A To Z by Mick Inkpen and Apple Pie ABC by Alison Murray

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You can read more book reviews or buy Z is for Moose by Kelly L Bingham and Paul O Zelinsky at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Z is for Moose by Kelly L Bingham and Paul O Zelinsky at Amazon.com.

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