VIM THE RAG MOUSE

Vim? the rag mouse? Maybe the name has other connotations in England--whence comes this stagy, derivative item--but neihter there nor here have we seen a pudgy figure the like of this one, whose only claim to mouse-hood is its head. But it's enough for the story's purposes that a prowling cat takes Vim for a mouse, and so starts him on the adventures that will give him a story to tell to the other, more exotic toys (a wooden zebra from Africa, a clown from Poland, etc.) who share his windowsill. The adventures are an arbitrary sequence of ups-and-downs which involve a cranky teacher and a petty crook and result, by an unlikely coincidence, in Vim's return to his windowsill with lots and lots to tell. The illustrations combine Ardizzone colorings and cross-hatching with some notably harsh delineations, and the result is sufficiently unappealing that, in fact, this particular, would-be-winsome story hardly has a chance.