Two small boys had been hunting on the outskirts of a little Minnesota town one cold winter's day. They skied back to the livery stable where Ivar's father boarded the horses and mules from the nearby mines.  "I wish," Waino said dreamily, "that that had been a good old moose I shot."  Ivar fired his air gun down the corridor between the stalls to show what he would have done. All at once there was a very sad sound. It went "Haawwnnk — hawnk — hawnk — haawwnnkk!"  The two boys dropped everything.

"What do you think that is, Ivar?"  "It—it sounded like an automobile."  "Automobiles don't care if you shoot them," Waino suggested.  "Yeah," Ivar admitted.  "Maybe it was a moose," Waino said softly.  It was a moose!

What can you do with a moose? In the first place, Honk was such a hungry moose you couldn't help being sorry for him. About a ton of Ivar's father's hay fixed that. But Honk was naturally such a sad moose you had to be good to him. So Honk stayed on.

Just as this author and artist, with such perfect humor and understanding, collaborated in FARM BOY to present a true picture of an American farm, here they have happily combined to depict a genuine small town, with its friendly people, its community center—the livery stable — its close-huddled homes and streets and, most of all, its SMALL BOYS!

For boys and girls from 7 to 10

From the dust jacket