MOUSEKIN'S CLOSE CALL

by Edna Miller ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 3, 1978

Mouskin's observation of an opossum playing dead for a hungry fox occasions a slipped-in review (""Mousekin had seen. . ."") of how various animals pretend to be dead or lame to deter predators or divert them from their young, ""There was no need for Mousekin to pretend. . . . He was fast and he was small""--but then, intent upon eating, Mousekin is snapped up by a weasel. . . but saved by an angry sparrow whose nest the weasel approaches. (""Mousekin was frozen with fear. He was not pretending."") Wiser for the incident, Mousekin ""would remember to stop, look, and listen."" But the stock dramatic moment that constitutes the action here doesn't succeed in tying the nature lesson on playing dead to the cautionary one learned by Mousekin. Pale, as usual.

Pub Date: April 3, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Prentice-Hall

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1978

Categories: CHILDREN'S