I've just been introduced by our Western Massachusetts public library system to Astrid Sheckels and her Hector Fox books. I can't tell you how delighted I was to come across Ebenezer Moose, shown here, in Hector Fox and the Giant Quest! For many years, my husband and I vacationed at a lake in Maine, where we almost always saw at least one moose and especially loved spotting them in remote marshes. Sheckels' evocation of that landscape is evocative.
All my life, moreover, I have loved downright sentimental, anthropomorphic children's books that depict animal in human costume and settings, beginning with Beatrix Potter, running through the myriad illustrators of The Wind in the Willows, to Jill Barklem's Brambley Hedge series, Christopher Denise's illustrations for the Redwall books, and right up to a recent purchase, Mouse's Wood by Alice Melvin. Many of these are either English or influenced by the English illustrative tradition. Sheckels works in Western Massachusetts, and I love that she incorporates American animals into the genre.