SHIP IN A BOTTLE

At the helm of her fine boat, a mouse finds a new home and a new life.

Fed up with Cat’s endless quest to eat her, Mouse fills the bottle around her ship with gingersnaps, a favorite treat, and floats away in search of a safer, happier existence. The journey isn’t altogether smooth sailing at first, what with rapacious sea gulls and other hungry creatures greeting her and depleting her cookie stash. Add in stormy weather, and Mouse seemingly has bigger problems than she had with Cat. Fortunately, she has courage, ingenuity, and strength on her side. When the bottle at last reaches the shore of a large city, the ship in a bottle turns out to be an even better deal than Mouse originally believed: She realizes her good luck in discovering welcoming, helpful new friends—and a new culinary delight (kids will easily relate). As for Cat? In the end, it’s still waiting, morosely and comically, at an open window. This simply told, sweet, gently humorous story will have great appeal for young readers/listeners, and Mouse is a quietly charming heroine kids will earnestly root for. Delightful, pastel-colored cartoon illustrations beguile, competently suggesting place, atmosphere, and emotional heft; their varied presentation in full spreads and softly outlined panels very ably drives the text. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Time spent in this bottle is time well spent indeed.