Mouse House [Hardcover]

“Once upon a time there was a little mouse house. It was like a doll’s house, but not for dolls, for mice.” Not proper mice, but a flannel He-Mouse and She-Mouse with beady eyes and bristle whiskers who stand quite still, propped on their hind legs in the sitting room. Mary knows real mice run and scamper, and disappointed with her new gift, she puts the mouse house away in her room. Meanwhile, down in the basement, a real mouse named Bonnie has been jostled out of her woefully inadequate flowerpot home by her older brothers and sisters. Overlooked by her harried parents and desperate for shelter, Bonnie ventures upstairs and finds the mouse house. And before too long what was a miniature make-believe house becomes a marvelously messy home for proper mice who know how to play, much to everyone’s delight. Rumer Godden has scaled her story perfectly and has written it in bright, lucid prose...it will give the reader suspense in miniature and [a] sense of comfort. —The New York Times

The story's details are chosen with precision, and Godden gets the balance just right in her portrayal of her mouse characters: they act both like real mice (shredding the contents of the Mouse House to make a cozy nest) and people (two of Bonnie's sisters make dolls out of silk flowers). Adams's illustrations are old-fashioned but lively, perfect for this small-scope but very satisfying adventure. —Martha V. Parravano,The Horn Book Magazine

Rumer Godden has combined imagination and realism to produce a children's book of charm and originality. —Globe and Mail

Tiny Bonnie, the littlest mouse in the family that lived in the cracked flower pot in the cellar of Mary's house, crept upstairs to find a place to sleep one night. She found a real mouse house with tiny beds in the miniature house Mary was given for Easter. Bonnie slept in the miniature bed and tipped over chairs and tables when morning came anl³.