Moose Eggs Or, Why Moose Have Flat Antlers, written by Susan Williams Beckhorn and illustrated by Helen Stevens
caught my attention and held it. The press release reads:
In a tale reminiscent of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, Susan Williams Beckhorn imagines a whimsical explanation for the fantastic shape of a moose’s antlers. It seems one confused male moose – upon observing birds hatching from eggs – thinks he must protect some egg-shaped rocks until they hatch! Carrying them and cradling them in his antlers here, there, and everywhere, he soon finds that his antlers take on a curved and flattened shape. The weight of the rocks also gives the moose high shoulders, a droopy nose, and flattened hooves. All of this is illustrated charmingly by Helen Stevens, helping those children who know moose well – and those to whom the animal is new – to understand the story.
Carrying them and cradling them in his antlers here, there, and everywhere, he soon finds that his antlers take on a curved and flattened shape. The weight of the rocks also gives the moose high shoulders, a droopy nose, and flattened hooves. All of this is illustrated charmingly by Helen Stevens, helping those children who know moose well – and those to whom the animal is new – to understand the story.
Susan Williams Beckhorn is the author of In the Morning of the World (Down East Books, 2000), a book of “woodland why” stories, which explain reasons for several animals’ physical characteristics. Her middle reader, Sarey by Lantern Light (Down East Books, 2003) looks at a child’s experience of dyslexia. Her book, The Kingfisher’s Gift (2002) was a Junior Literary Guild selection. She lives in Rexville, New York.
Helen Stevens an illustrator of greeting cards and books, and she is also an award-winning cartoonist, contributor to the American Cancer Society’s “Art from the Heart” shows, and a poet. She lives in Gardiner, Maine.
For Further information, contact:
Rosemary Herbert, Publicity Director



