MRS. PEPPERPOT AND THE MOOSE

The little old lady who shrinks ``to the size of a teaspoon'' at unexpected moments has appeared in several story collections (Mrs. Pepperpot to the Rescue, 1963); this amusing additional tale is a good sample of their Scandinavian flavor. When her own well goes dry, Mrs. Pepperpot tries to break the ice in another one nearby, but she's chased by a belligerent moose. Undaunted, she sets out again with a pole, and then with a gun, all to no avail—the baleful moose still hovers. She finally decides to make do with snow, but she suddenly shrinks and falls into her pail, which rolls downhill and gets hooked on the moose's antler—thus giving him a well-deserved fright. Berg, a Swedish political cartoonist who was Prysen's original illustrator, depicts the doughty heroine looking appropriately like a somewhat frazzled pepperpot and also provides authentic details of the northern landscape. In the excellent translation, the rather old-fashioned story moves along with brisk good humor. An attractive book that will especially entertain newly independent readers. (Picture book. 5-8)