MOUSE SOUP

'Ah!' said the weasel. 'I am going to make mouse soup.' 'Oh!' said the mouse. 'I am going to be mouse soup.'" But wait—"Mouse soup must be mixed with stories to make it taste really good," he announces from the pot. And so, looking so absurdly endearing that you know he must be spared, the mouse tells the gullible weasel four stories. In the first a mouse outsmarts some bees, just as our mouse will outsmart his captor in the end; the other tales are, in turn, a simple fable, a laughable instance of misunderstanding, and a fondly amusing correlative of good will. Small but satisfying, and all informed with Lobel's own gentle resonance.