PETER'S MOOSE

A touching, illustrative story of the growing bond between a boy and his most unlikely pet, a moose. There is immediate empathy between motherless Peter and the sick baby moose he finds stranded in the Montana woods where Peter's father works as a forest ranger. Despite adult warnings of danger, Peter adopts ""Silly"" and teaches him many amazing things. The children at Tepee Canyon School persuade their teacher to allow Silly in the schoolyard and even to give him a part in the Christmas play. But the gunshot of an irate parent sends the moose into the woods from which he emerges in time to save Peter's life in a blinding blizzard. With all his love, Peter could never teach Silly caution, the lesson of the angry gun, and the animal world must ultimately claim its own. A mildly contrived final sequence does not detract from the significance of this warmly moving story, buttressed by the authentic feel of range living.