POSSUM'S HARVEST MOON

Possum wakes up one autumn evening and sees the biggest moon ever—a moon that calls for a pre-hibernation celebration. Off he goes, looking for guests. But the mice are too busy storing food for the winter, the crickets too are tired after chirping all summer, the raccoon still has fish to eat before he can rest, the fireflies are silent. Possum celebrates alone. Then, as the moon rises higher in the sky, all of the other creatures fall under its spell; from all corners of the field, they hurry to Possum's place for a harvest soiree before ``winter's long sleep.'' Hunter's first book is a sturdy piece of work, with crisp writing that is full of scratchy alliterations (``Raccoon rousted his crony, Rabbit''). The watercolor illustrations, done in a dark, woodsy palette, are covered with cross-hatching that swells every object with dimensionality. The animals sit inside the page borders like toys inside a box; these diorama-like nighttime scenes, with a huge harvest moon hovering above the horizon, have a hushed mystery that enhances the charms of the text. (Picture book. 3-8)