I first told version of the story in 1987 in Geraldton, Ontario. I do not remember the name of the first kid in the story because it was a ‘throw away’ MOOSE story. There were dead MOOSE on cars that came for the show. I kept telling it all through Northern Ontario where I was on tour. It then became one of my favorite tell stories and it had LOTS of different versions. There was the Inuit version where the animal is a Cariboo and the kid shoots and eats it. There was the Northern Ontario version where the animal is a MOOSE and the kid wants to keep it for a pet. There was the Toronto version where the animal is a raccoon and the kid calls the police. There was the Texas version were the animal is a Armadillo and the kid wants to keep it for a pet. There was a Plains version were the animal was a Buffalo. Etc. Etc. Etc.
Through all this telling my basic story still had the dad ask the kid to give him a gun.
Publishers did not like that.
Finally Scholastic told me to change the story and get rid of the gun and them they would publish it. Around the same time Greg Jones, who scheduled and travelled with me for show, asked me NOT to tell it because he ALWAYS got at least one parent who freaked out when I mentioned GUNS.
This was a problem because I felt that the story had begun in a town where EVERYONE hunted and thought hunting was OK.
So I played around with the story and came up with the version that is in the book and finally, after 6 years of asking, Scholastic said “YES”.
But the story had no KID. So I had this story and and I had to find a kid for it.
WHAT TO DO? I WAS IN A HURRY!
Then I remembered a kid named LUKE who had sent me a wonderful letter about his ‘tree house’ which was strangely not in a tree. The letter has all sorts of photographs of Luke and his tree house and that was a perfect background for the MOOSE story. I tracked down Luke’s sister on FACEBOOK and asked her to ask Luke if he wanted to be in a book.
He did.
So Daniel in Texas did not get in an Armadillo story and the Crockatt family did not get in the Inuit Cariboo version and no school class got in the school class version even though a lot of classes sent me illustrations of it.
So take this story and make your OWN version of it, because that is what I would do if I told it you.
HERE IS THE MOOSE AS AN ARMADILLO
04/26/08 …… Armadillo #1
ARMADILLO
One morning Daniel woke up very early and walked into his backyard. There, standing in the middle of the yard was a large, enormous ARMADILLO, as big as a car. Daniel yelled, “ARMADILLO!” Then HE ran around the yard three times and went inside to wake up his father.
His father was asleep like this: “ZZZZZ, ZZZZZ, ZZZZZ, ZZZZZ”
He had been on e-bay till three in the morning.
Daniel said very quietly, “DADDY”.
His daddy didn’t wake up.
Daniel said a little louder, “DAAADDY!”
His daddy still didn’t wake up.
Daniel yelled as loud as she could, “DAAAAAAAAAADDY!”
His daddy still didn’t wake up; so Daniel took off her shoe and whapped his father on the head.
“WAP -WAP – WAP – WAP”
Daniel’s daddy jumped out of bed and yelled
“What’s the matter?
“What’s the matter?
“What’s the matter?”
Daniel said, “In our back yard is a large, enormous ARMADILLO, as big as a car!”
“This is crazy”, said his daddy, “There is no ARMADILLOas big as a car in our back yard”.
Nevertheless, Daniel’s daddy decided to go see what was going on. He got dressed, opened up the back door, stepped outside, rubbed his eyes and yelled, “ARMADILLO!”
Well, that frightened the ARMADILLO and it jumped up in the air and came down on Daniel’s daddy.
Daniel’s daddy said “GWACKKKH!!”
Daniel decided to go get his mother.
Her mother was asleep like this: ZZZZZ, ZZZZZ, ZZZZZ, ZZZZZ.
She had been on e-bay till five in the morning.
Daniel said very quietly, “MOMMY!”.
She didn’t wake up.
Daniel said a little louder, “MOMMY!”.
She still didn’t wake up.
Daniel yelled as loud as he could, “MOOOOOOOMMY!”
She still didn’t wake up; so Daniel took off her shoe and whapped his mother on the head.
She jumped out of bed and said,
“What’s the matter?
“What’s the matter?
“What’s the matter?”
“In our back yard” said Daniel “is a large, enormous ARMADILLO, as big as a car”.
“Don’t be ridiculous”, said Daniel’s mother, “There is no ARMADILLO as big as a car in our back yard”.
Nevertheless, she decided to go see what was going on. She got dressed, opened up the back door, stepped outside, rubbed her eyes and yelled, “ARMADILLO!”
Well, that frightened the ARMADILLO and it jumped right up in the air and came down on Daniel’s mother.
She said “GWACKKKH!!”
Daniel wanted to get that ARMADILLO off her mother, so he ran into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and got out three big orange carrots. He held them out the door and said, “Here Armadillo.”
The ARMADILLO came over and smelled one carrot, “Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff”.
It ate the carrot “CRUNCH”
Daniel said, “I think I like this ARMADILLO”.
The ARMADILLO smelled another carrot “Sniff, Sniff, Sniff, Sniff.”
The ARMADILLO ate that carrot “CRUNCH”
Daniel said, “I wanna keep him for a pet”.
The ARMADILLO smelled another carrot “Sniff, Sniff, Sniff, Sniff.”
The ARMADILLO ate that carrot “CRUNCH”
Daniel said, “He can live in my bedroom!”
Just then Daniel’s daddy lifted up his head and said, “Daniel! Call the Police!”
“NO! NO! NO!” said Daniel “The police might shoot that nice Armadillo all full of holes!”
“DANIEL” said his daddy “CALL THE POLICE!”
So Daniel got the phone and said “In my back yard is and ARMADILLO as big as a car.”
“As big as a car?” said the policeman.
“Right!” said Daniel.
A policeman drove up and ran into the house and out into the backyard.
He yelled“ARMADILLO”, threw his gun up into the air and ran away.
The gun came down and bounced of Daniel’s head.
“AHHHHHHHHHH” yelled Daniel, and he caught the gun before it could hit the ground.
The Armadillo saw Daniel holding the policeman’s gun and it yelled “HUNTER!!”
Then it ran into the kitchen, took all the carrots out of the refrigerator and ran out the front door and never come back.
©1987 – Bob Munsch Enterprises Ltd.
AND HERE IS THE CLASS VERSION. THE KIDS HAVE NUMBERS INSTEAD OF NAMES SO IT IS EASY TO INSERT CLASS NAMES
22/29/89 …………#3
03/23./07 …..#5 Class Version
MOOSE
One morning 2 woke up very early and walked into her backyard. There, standing in the middle of the yard was a large, enormous moose. 2 looked at that animal and yelled, “MOOOOSE!” Then she ran around the yard three times and ran out to the sidewalk and yelled “ MOOOOOSE!”
3, 4, 5, and 6 were walking to school and they said “MOOOOOSE?”
“Yes” said 2, “There is a large Moose in my back yard. What shall I do?”
“Tell your father, of course” said 3 4 5 and 6.
So they all ran upstairs.
2’s father was asleep like this: ZZZZZ, ZZZZZ, ZZZZZ, ZZZZZ.
He had been on e-bay till three in the morning.
2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 said very quietly, “DADDY”.
He didn’t wake up.
2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 said a little louder, “DAAADDY!”
He still didn’t wake up.
2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 yelled as loud as they could,
“DAAAAAAAAAADDY!”
He still didn’t wake up; so: they all took off a shoe and wapped the father on the head.
He jumped out of bed and yelled
“What’s the matter?
“What’s the matter?
“What’s the matter?”
2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 said, “In our back yard is a large, enormous MOOSE”.
“This is crazy”, said the father, “There IS no moose in our back yard”.
Nevertheless, he decided to go see what was going on. He got dressed, opened up the back door, stepped outside, rubbed his eyes, opened them up and yelled, “MOOOOSE!”
Well, that frightened the moose and it jumped right up in the air and came down on 2’s father.
Her daddy said “GWACKKKH!!”
2 ran out to the sidewalk and yelled “MOOOOOSE!”
7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 13 and 14 said “Moose?”
“Yes” said 2, “There is a large Moose in my back yard on my daddy. What shall I do?”
“Tell your mother” said 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 13 and 14.
They ran upstairs and 2’s mother was asleep like this: ZZZZZ, ZZZZZ, ZZZZZ, ZZZZZ.
She had been playing bingo till 3 in the morning.
2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 13 and 14 said very quietly, “MOMMY!”
She didn’t wake up.
2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 13 and 14 said a little louder, “MOMMY!”
She still didn’t wake up.
2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 13 and 14 yelled as loud as she could,
“MOOOOOOOMMY!”
She still didn’t wake up; so they all took off their shoes and wapped 2’s mother on the head. She jumped out of bed and said,
“What’s the matter?
“What’s the matter?
“What’s the matter?”
“In the back yard”, said 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 13 and 14 “is a large enormous MOOSE”.
“Don’t be ridiculous”, said the mother, “There is no moose in our back yard. Moose are very shy animals and they stay in the forest”.
Nevertheless, she decided to go see what was going on. She got dressed, opened up the back door, stepped outside, rubbed her eyes, opened them up and yelled,
“MOOOOOSE!”
Well, that frightened the moose and it jumped right up in the air and came down on 2’s mother.
Her mommy said “GWACKKKH!!”
2 wanted to get that moose off her mother.
She ran out to the street and yelled “MOOOOSE!”
15. 16. 17. 18. 19 and 20 were walking to school and said “MOOSE?”
“Yes” said 2 “There is a large moose in my back yard and I don’t know what to do.”
“Feed him” said 15. 16. 17. 18. 19 and 20 “Feed him carrots from the refrigerator.”
So they all ran into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and each got a big orange carrot.
2, 15. 16. 17. 18. 19 and 20 held them out the door and said, “Here Moosie, Moosie, Moosie”.
The moose came over and smelled 15’s carrot, “Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff”.
It ate the carrot “CRUNCH”
2 said, “I think I like this moose”.
The moose smelled 16’s carrot “Sniff, Sniff, Sniff, Sniff.”
The moose ate that carrot “CRUNCH”
2 said, “I wanna keep him for a pet”.
The moose smelled 17, and 18, and 19 and 20’s carrot “Sniff, Sniff, Sniff, Sniff.”
The moose ate those carrots “CRUNCH”
2 ran out in the street and yelled “A Moose! A Moose! A Moose! I want a Moose for a pet.
21, 22, and 23 were walking to school and they said “MOOSE?”
“YES” said 2. There is a Moose in my back yard and I want to keep it for a pet.”
“You are nuts” said 21, 22 and 23 “We are going to call the police.”
So 21, 22 and 23 got on the phone and YELLED “There is a large MOOSE is 2’s back yard.”
A police car came very fast and three policemen ran into the house.
“Where is the MOOSE” yelled the policemen.
“In the Backyard” yelled all the kids.
The policemen ran into the backyard and saw the very large MOOSE and freaked out.
They ran around in circles, threw their guns in the air and ran down the street.
3, 10, and 17 caught their guns.
The MOOSE saw them holding the guns and said
“HUNTER!”
Then it ran into the kitchen, took all the carrots out of the refrigerator, ran out the front door and down the street.
Then 2 said “OH! I wanted to keep it for a pet.”
“Maybe it went to the school!” said 3, 5 , 7, 13, 16 and 20 “Maybe it’s in the playground.
And everyone ran off to school
© – bob munsch ent. Ltd. – 1987
THIS IS A MOST ADAPTABLE STORY AND I SUGGEST YOU PLAY AROUND WITH IT.
And here is Luke with a signed copy of the book.
