A moose adds his own special culinary touches to the Passover Seder.Paulie, a moose, or "moos-ician," stops playing his guitar to do last-minute Passover shopping, during which he meets his friends, a rabbit and a hedgehog, who will be joining him. He adds some usual items to his cart such as grape juice and candles, then goes home to cook and set the table. His friends join him, including a skunk and a bear, but they notice that some food items are a little different from what they expected. The egg on the Seder plate is very large—from an ostrich. The salt water also has pepper in it. The charoset has apples and pine cones instead of apples and nuts. Parsley is replaced by grass, and the maror is a radish carved to look like a horse instead of horseradish. Finally, the lamb bone is a ball of wool from a lamb. Close…but….Searching for the afikomen adds drama and meaning to the evening celebration and makes it a happy Passover for the friends. Readers who are familiar with the spring holiday may find some of the antics amusing. Those who are new to it will likely be confused, particularly as a diagram of a Seder plate with the correct assemblage is not included to help orient them. The animals are all colorfully comic, however. Less than fun and more than silly. (Picture book/religion. 3-5)

Paulie the moose is hosting his first seder, and things aren-t going well. He carves a horse from a radish instead of horseradish for the maror (bitter herbs). He makes the charoset out of apples and chopped pinecones. And he gets stuck in the basement after finding the afikomen. Paulie-s friends can-t help but laugh at his Passover faux pas, but they love him. -Each thing still reminds us of the meaning of Passover-in a Paulie way,- says Sally the rabbit. Sutton-s nudges toward the subject matter are often far from subtle (when told he gets a reward for finding the afikomen, Paulie responds, -I don-t need one.... My reward is being free, like our ancestors on Passover-). But Paulie-s eagerness to get Passover perfect remains endearing, and Vagnozzi-s toylike, apple-cheeked animal cast exudes high spirits and open hearts. Ages 3-8. (Jan.)