MOUSE SHAPES
by Ellen Stoll Walsh & illustrated by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Stoll’s signature paper-collaged mice return with another cheerful exposition for preschoolers. This time, a trio—Fred, Violet and Martin—elude the cat by hiding in a pile of bright shapes. Once the threat subsides, the mice manipulate the shapes, chatting it up in a plainspoken play-by-play nicely pitched for young children: “We can make things with them. Here’s a square. A triangle on top makes it a perfect house for a little mouse.” No sooner do they depict the cat (exercising plenty of artistic license with color and the size of the triangular teeth) than the real beast sends them scurrying again. To turn the tables, they construct “three big scary mice” (clearly crafted to amuse, not frighten preschoolers) dispatching the cat. Stoll’s colorful collages appear within white rectangles bordered in black. The crisp layout and well-chosen typography align this volume with Stoll’s earlier concept books, Mouse Paint (1989) and Mouse Count (1991). This welcome addition should inspire both kids and grown-ups to create their own shape stories. (Picture book. 2-7)