An original, rousing mouse adventure in the tradition of Stuart Little.
A kindhearted orphan girl and a clever mouse join forces to expose an illegal baby-selling operation in a Philadelphia orphanage.
Since her mother’s death in a fire that disfigured her own hand and arm, 11-year-old Caro McKay’s lived at Cherry Street Home for Children, where she’s known as a “responsible, sweet-tempered child” and a favorite of enigmatic headmistress Mrs. George. No one realizes there’s a thriving mouse colony at Cherry Street Home until Mrs. George’s cat, Gallico, catches Mary Mouse covertly trying to steal commemorative stamps the mice use as artwork. When Caro rescues Mary, they bond. Alerted to the presence of mice, Mrs. George threatens to call an exterminator, triggering the colony’s mass exodus. Left behind, Mary’s joined by Andrew, an adventurous mouse who can read. Inspired by their literary hero, Stuart Little, Mary and Andrew discover Mrs. George runs a baby-selling racket, while Caro’s become suspicious about a missing baby. The staccato pace alternates between Mary and Andrew’s daring exploits and Caro’s harrowing efforts to thwart Mrs. George. Period detail about orphanages in 1949 adds historical depth, while atmospheric black-and-white illustrations highlight dramatic scenes. Along with Gallico, surely an homage to the author of The Abandoned, there are other children’s-literature cameos readers will enjoy picking out.
An original, rousing mouse adventure in the tradition of Stuart Little. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3167-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The story would have a real chance on its own merits without these really appallingly bad episodes. (Fantasy. 8-12)
Of course this will sell—as an E.B. White item and one that the publishers are pushing hard, playing it for an adult as well as a juvenile sale.
And that is where I think it really belongs, along with Robert Lawson's books, which reach children chiefly through adults. Thurber was another, but more justifiable on the score of a nice quality of whimsy, which Stuart Little—for me at least—lacks. This seems to me pseudo-fantasy, synthetic, and lacking the tenderness that makes a story such as Wind In The Willows wholly the children's own. Undertones and overtones of this story of a mouse in a human family are unjuvenile on all counts. The central story follows the make-believe as Stuart, complete with hat, cane, pin-striped trousers, and a stout heart, embarks on his small odyssey—a hairbreadth escape in a window shade (victim of a jealous cat), high seas exploits in Central Park, near tragedy in a garbage scow. Then comes the complete flop of the schoolroom episode and the romance.
The story would have a real chance on its own merits without these really appallingly bad episodes. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 1945
ISBN: 978-0-06-026396-6
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1945
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