“Itsy bitsy baby mouse” gets very lost and must find his way in this home-away-home mouse adventure for the wee set.
“Itsy bitsy baby mouse” euphorically whirls and twirls around the house, chasing a fly up a table leg and sampling apple-pie crumbs until he suddenly realizes he’s lost. Panic grips baby mouse as he frantically darts about looking for his parents and weeping, “Mama, Papa!” When he spies “teensy-weensy ladybug,” he follows her up a “fuzzy mound” that’s “soft and round”—and turns out to be a sleeping cat. Beating a hasty retreat, baby mouse and ladybug bump into a friendly mouse, who directs them to baby mouse’s front door, but not before he imagines the cat’s got his tail. Simple, rhyming text relates baby mouse’s almost-tragic foray into the wide world inside the house, while charming pen, ink and watercolor illustrations track his frantic little journey across the pages, often marking his route with a dashed line. Comic close-ups expressively emphasize baby mouse’s changing moods, while distance shots highlight his diminutive stature in relation to furniture—and cats.
Another appealing mouse hero likely to tickle toddlers embarking on their own adventures. (Picture book. 3-7)
