Kathy Sherman is the author of ‘Too Many Moose’ — a ridiculous rhyming picture book about the biggest family of moose you have ever seen. Not one moose or two moose. No, ‘Too Many Moose’ stars exactly 256 moose (and one bewildered host) during a massive moose meet-up.
In this Q&A Kathy discusses her inspirations — from classic children’s literature to one hilarious drunken moose — how a song turns into a storybook, and working with Torey Butner; an illustrator she has an incredible connection with.
‘Too Many Moose’ by Kathy Sherman and Torey Butner is available to order here.
Hi Kathy! We’re so excited for people to learn more about ‘Too Many Moose’. First of all, we’d like to know if you had any specific inspirations when writing this book?
Dr. Seuss wrote a very strange book in 1948 called “Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose”. Thidwick allows a bug to ride on his antlers, the bug then invites all the woodland creatures they come upon to jump onto the antlers as well. Thidwick is so polite that he can’t say no, because they are his “guests”. Eventually, this becomes unsustainable for poor Thidwick. I won’t reveal the end here…it’s funny and gruesome. The moral of the story is that you need to stick up for yourself! Yes, be polite, but don’t let others take advantage of you.
Years ago I read a newspaper article about a moose who appeared to be drunk after eating fermented fruit that had fallen off of a tree. This caused it to ramble around the city streets and make something of a spectacle of itself.
Finally, the idea of moose, not just one moose but moose and moose and MOOSE invading someone’s cottage with absolute gleeful abandon is just — funny! And, this poor girl! Who is she? Why is she alone? Is she a grown-up? Does it matter? She is watching this and absolutely stunned by this spectacle, until — like Thidwick, she has had enough.
‘Too Many Moose’ is a story about a VERY big Moose family. Is this something you have experience of yourself?
My immediate family is not big but my extended family is huge. My grandmother had 9 siblings. I remember going to family reunions where there were easily over 100 people. I only knew a fraction of them. My husband has close to 50 first cousins. One of his aunts sends out a family newsletter every year so we get all the family gossip about people who we barely know. It’s really quite fun.
Torey and I made up a “Moose Family Newsletter” to provide some background into the Too Many Moose story.
That sounds, great. We’d love to read it! What was it about Moose that made you want to focus on them for this particular story?
Moose are big, goofy-looking animals. Even though they are dangerous to encounter in person, they look majestic and sweet.
There is a certain magic when you see a moose as well. In our story, our girl can’t believe she’s actually seeing a moose! If it were a cow, goat or sheep munching on her garden she probably would have just gone out and shooed them away with a broom!
The story of ‘Too Many Moose’ is wacky and fun. How did you balance all of your ideas with telling a story that children and families will love?
There are many types of children’s stories: those that teach a moral or practical lesson, those that are just plain silly, those that employ movement for neural development, wordplay, poetry, historical songs, lullabies…I suppose it’s the same with children’s books as well.
I wanted this story to be interactive (the children try to guess or figure out how many moose are coming next – this is the 2 to the power of n sequence, 2,4 8 16 etc.), also the younger children could blink once, two times more and shake their heads. When it came time to banish the moose the children could really get involved.
Much like yourself, the book is very musical. How did your musical background influence the writing of this book?
‘Too Many Moose’ started out as a song and morphed into a book. I sang it for the Children’s Music Network a few years ago and the participants immediately responded with the comment, “you have a book here”.
How did you come to work with Torey on this book?
Torey and I have worked on several projects over the years. I absolutely love working with her. Torey has an ability to develop a character that brings them to a whole different level of emotional expression; she gives them that extra sassiness, or impishness. You can see examples of this in the faces of the moose.
I hope Torey won’t mind if I tell you… I first met her when she was just a few weeks old. Her mom and I both had our first born children (Torey and my son Nathan) in a newborn babies class. They were in the same preschool up until they started kindergarten. Torey’s mom, an extraordinary artist in her own right, recommended Torey to illustrate my first album cover. Several CDs, songbooks, and videos later, we find ourselves co-authors of this wonderful children’s book.
Wow! That’s an incredible connection. What did you think when you first saw the story come to life?
I felt very proud that we accomplished this. Torey did an amazing job creating the cabin and the gardens, the moose characters and the chaos.
We met every couple of weeks to discuss the progress so there really wasn’t a single moment I could say that hit me that the book came to life, it was more like a gestation period that finally, we birthed a book!
Do you have a favourite section or scene in the book?
I have several! The very first scene which shows the cabin and the beautiful gardens, the moose dancing into the house, the girl screaming, and the moose running away in confusion; actually I love them all. You are asking me which child is my favourite. They all have their charm.
Finally, what’s one thing you’d like readers to take away from this book?
Do not, under any circumstance, invite a moose into your house!
We couldn’t agree more!
‘Too Many Moose‘ by Kathy Sherman and Torey Butner is published on August 15th 2024. You can order your copy in paperback, hardback, and eBook here.