Honk the Moose

Over the past few months Connor’s enjoyed a great quantity and variety of books, and it occurred to me that he might be ready for a chapter book. We read chapter books of the “I Can Read” genre, such as Frog and Toad and others by Arnold Lobel. However, those can be read in one sitting. It seemed to me that he might enjoy books that continued from one day to the next, of a sort that he would have to imagine the characters and action. Part of the idea came from a book I read recently by a literacy guru, and the other part from Connor’s dad, who about a month ago, began telling a story (involving a character called Freddie) in nightly installments.

Anyway, while I was trying to think of a chapter book that would be suitable (like, Charlotte's Web is too advanced at this point), I happened upon an interesting book at the library. It seemed to be perfect. It was a chapter book with some illustrations, not too long, but long enough to be read over several days. So we began. On Friday I read a chapter. On Saturday I read a chapter. Yesterday I read one in the morning and one at bedtime. Today I read one before naptime. We’ve read five, and there are four left. He is totally into it.

When I found it, I scanned it quickly and thought it to be a funny little story, and we’d try it. I just started reading it. Not until today did I glance at the back cover, which led me to look at the front matter. It is a very unique book. First of all, it’s based on a true story. “Set in the early 1930s," explains the cover copy, "[it] is filled with rich, historical facts about life for Finnish immigrant children in a small Minnesota town.” And so it is. It's different.

The author Phil Stong worked as a teacher and coach in Biwabik from 1919-1920, where he learned of the story of Honk. Another teacher used the story in her curriculum for years so that it became part of the community's oral tradition. It seems to have originally been published in 1935; it was a Newbery Honors book in 1936. It was out of print for 40 years. This edition was printed in 2001 through the efforts of the then-mayor of Biwabik.

Author Phil Stong wrote State Fair, which went to Broadway. Illustrator Kurt Weise won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for this book, as well as for The Five Chinese Brothers and The Story about Ping (classics from my childhood).