this moose belongs to me

As I'm sure you know, I love picture books and I have quite a nice collection going. It's not a huge collection yet, but it's carefully curated. I only add books with art that excites and inspires me. I have shared books from my collection in this space in the past, but I'm hoping to do more of it in the comings months. The following book was a recent Christmas gift that I am happy to add to my collection.

This Moose Belongs to Me was written and illustrated by one of my favorite picture book makers, Oliver Jeffers. All of his books are brilliant, but The Incredible Book Eating Boy remains my absolute favorite. I wrote about it here. This Moose Belongs To Me is now my second favorite of his books :)

The story is adorable and the images are a perfect compliment to the text.  In terms of content, the illustrations have lots of little clues and details that add to the story. I notice something new every time I read it. In terms of style, I love the combination of the fully rendered backgrounds and the more playfully drawn characters in the foregrounds.

What I really admire about the work of Oliver Jeffers is his ability to tell simple but clever stories in a simple but clever way. And his illustrations are so loose and free. Because I struggle with that in my own work, I really appreciate it in the work of artists who make it look easy.