One of my favorite authors is Karma Wilson, so I was delighted when I heard that she had a new book out. I wasted no time putting the book Moose Tracks! on hold at the library and could hardly wait to pick it up when I was notified that it came in.


The Story

The story starts with an unknown narrator speaking about the moose tracks and wondering how they got all over his house.

Now he'd had many different animal visitors such as a bear who left hair on the chair or the chipmunk who left nut shells on the counter when making nut fudge sundaes, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out where all of the moose tracks came from.

There are moose tracks
On my back porch,
In my kitchen and my den,

In my bathroom and my bedroom
Moose tracks everywhere
I've been!

Each page of this rhyming text story adds an animal and the narrators memory of how that animal had left behind something, but they were things he knew had happened….the moose tracks were much more mysterious.


The Illustrations

The illustrations are fun and whimsical and filled with lots of things to catch even the youngest readers eye. On each page we see moose tracks of course, but there are also details like bugs, birds, a dog and even a bear hair covered lawn chair. (say that 3 times fast)

The narrator has all sorts of animal friends that show up on the pages rendered in acrylic, watercolor and ink. The colors on the pages are very eye appealing and although not bright, bright shades they are colorful and interesting.

Some pages have edge to edge illustrations while other pages have just a small drawing in the center of the page. One thing that all of the pages have is moose tracks. We can see how a moose has left his prints from page to page, all over everything.

The text is a good medium/large black font that is easy to hold up and read or to read to a child on your lap. Because the book is a little bit large, 11 ½ X 9 ½, there is plenty of room for a good sized text.


My Feelings

I was so anxious to check this book out of the library and read it to my daycare children. Opening the book and finding Moose Tracks on the first page and then reading the forward that Ms. Wilson wrote: To my handsome husband Scott, who leaves tracks on my heart as well as my floor. I knew this would be another fabulous Karma Wilson book. From that wonderful beginning to the fantastic last page where we see moose tracks, the mouse maid with Moose Track Soap and a frog in the bucket of water the mouse is using, this books makes tracks on its readers hearts.

I think having a dog on the cover and then appearing on many of the pages made the children and me think that perhaps this was who was telling the story giving this book a nice twist at the end. It was fun reading and of course grasping where the moose tracks came from and then watching as slowly each of the children caught on too was so much fun. Watching them have that light bulb moment was just so interesting and fun to see. It took a bit longer for Jake, the youngest but by the last page he did catch on.

The youngest child that I've had in care, Sonny 2 ½ years old, is spending some time home with his Mom so hasn’t been in care for a few weeks so he hasn't heard this terrific book but the other three children ages, 4, 4 and 5 have all loved this book and ask for it over and over.

The humor in this book is such that a child hearing the story for the first or fiftieth time will get a kick out of it. Funny things like the bear hair on the chair or the narrator mentioning that the goose left a feather while they did the hokey pokey or the mouse maid in the bathtub cleaning are all funny to little ones (and big ones too) and make this a book they will continue to love.

I really loved how the moose tracks went everywhere and really connected one page to the next. The kids laughed at how the tracks were on the door, the mailbox and even across the dog. Jake picked up quickly the line "But who left all these moose tracks?" that is repeated several times throughout the story. The repetitiveness of this line and the rhyming text makes this a great book to share with children from around 4 to 8 years old.


Nuts & Bolts

Moose Tracks was written by Karma Wilson, author of Bear Snores On, Bear Wants More and A Frog in the Bog. The illustrations were done by Jack E. Davis, illustrator of Monster Goose, Sweet Tooth and Menopaws the Silent Meow.

This 32 page hardcover book was published in February 2006 by Margaret K. McElderry Books and is recommended for children 4 - 8 years old.

The jacket price is $16.95 US and $23.50 CAN

ISBN: 0689834373



Recommended: Yes