Blue Moose is an early children's book by author Daniel Pinkwater, and an excellent example of his considerable talent for deadpan humor. It's about a restaurant owner who feels unappreciated by his numerous laconic customers until a moose of blue hue steps out of the woods for a little warmth. The moose is the first customer to openly acknowledge the fine quality of the chef's clam chowder, and as a result of his forthright flattery and his skill in customer service, he becomes the restaurant's first and only waiter. Several incidents result from this, the most hilarious of which involves a duty-bound but ignorant game warden. The restraint of Pinkwater's language throughout the book is admirable: The friendship between the chef and the moose is quiet and believable, without the over-the-top shenanigans of some of his other books. He followed it up years later with The Blue Moose Returns, an inferior but still amusing sequel.