ANTLERS FOREVER!

A crisis has entered young Orville Anderson Tarkington Moose’s life: His antlers are loose. In Bloxam’s perky verse, Orville tries to get a grip on why his antlers are wobbling. “Its Vitamin M,” he’s sure, and the only way to tank up on Vitamin M is by chowing on beezels. So he hits the beezels hard, but that doesn’t help. He’ll go talk to Owl: “(Because of his eyes and the calm way he sits / Owl looks like a bird with remarkable wits).” Owl advises Orville that since his antlers are held on by screws, he must have a screw loose. Owl tries to tighten the antlers, but only succeeds in breaking both antlers off. Orville sets up a terrible howl, which attracts the attention of a great bull moose. The big bull gently explains to Orville that antlers are supposed to fall off. Not just that, they get bigger every year when the old pair are shed. “They’ll also be heavy, and that’s why it’s best / that antlers fall off, so our heads get a rest.” And with the size of the antlers the bull is sporting, that’s no small consideration. While Sollers draws Orville with Snoopy-like innocence, the other players in this drama are sharply represented, and the whole production goes down smooth as moose velvet. It all ends with four pages of Q&A about antlers, sadly lacking the most obvious: Why antlers at all? (Picture book. 4-8)