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I AM THE MOUNTAIN MOUSE by Gianna Marino

I AM THE MOUNTAIN MOUSE

by Gianna Marino ; illustrated by Gianna Marino

Pub Date: Sept. 13th, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-451-46955-7
Publisher: Viking

In four short stories, headstrong Mountain Mouse cavalierly dares to tread where wiser mice fear to go.

Mountain Mouse loves to climb, and in “The Food Story,” he claims a cheese wedge because he’s “bigger” and “can climb higher” than the other mice. Ignoring his cautious friends’ warnings, Mountain Mouse scales a camel’s hump, thinking it’s a mountain. Barely surviving the camel, Mountain Mouse resurfaces in “The Pool Story.” Assuming a dish on the floor is a swimming pool, Mountain Mouse climbs a chair and blindly cannonballs into the cat’s water dish. In “The Bed Story,” unflappable Mountain Mouse climbs a tall tree searching for a bed and encounters a mother eagle defending her hatching egg. Finally, in the “The Coconut Story,” a reformed Mountain Mouse takes his pals to the beach and remains safely with them on shore when they spy a shark. Presented in comic-style frames with text bubbles, hilarious pencil-and-gouache illustrations provide a mouse’s-eye view of Mountain Mouse’s extravagant, arrogant behavior. In contrast to his smaller, brown and gray pals with their solemn faces and frantic gestures, Mountain Mouse’s stout frame, white fur, and dramatic expressions stand out, especially in the final scenes when he’s sporting giant shades and flamingo-print swim trunks.

A rib-tickling addition to the mouse-adventure genre.

(Picture book. 3-5)