Mooseltoe

Mooseltoe by Margie Palatini
Illustrated by Henry Cole
Published by Scholastic
2001

     Moose was ready for the season.  "He was so full of ho ho ho's, even his moosetache had the holiday spirit!"  He was incredibly busy taking care of all the things on his to-do list.  He wrote Christmas cards, "shopped till he dropped," wrapped gifts, cooked all sorts of deserts, decorated the house and hung the stockings. He went down the list: check, check, double check. He made sure everything was "perfectly perfect."  When Mother, little Sissy, Bucky and Junior looked through the house, they saw everything looked "quite fine indeed," except for one corner of the house where the tree should have been! Poor Moose had forgotten the tree!  He went out in the cold desperately trying to find one but it was too late, they were all out.  So he came up with a perfectly perfect solution, he and his moosetache became the tree.
     Mooseltoe is a tricky read aloud.  Sometimes it rhymes and sometimes it doesn't, so it takes at least a one-read-over to get the rhythm down pat.  The story is delightful and there is plenty of opportunities for little ones to join in shouting "Check!" and "Perfectly Perfect" (this last one became one of my sons favorite sayings which he's used for the past year!).  The illustrations by Henry Cole are quite appealing and the cover will attract readers from the start.