A Trio of Mice

Earlier this year I wrote a post about two new mouse books, one by Lois Lowry and the other by Cynthia Voigt. I also listed a number of great mouse books already in print.

So. With Halloween right around the corner, just begging to be a blog post, I'm really more in the mood to talk about mice again. Why? Because the great Richard Peck has thrown his hat into the ring of the mouse boxing match. (I wanted to say "mouse circus," but I looked up the origin of "throw your hat into the ring" and discovered it's a boxing expression.) What I mean to say is, Peck has written a mouse book, too: Secrets at Sea.

I have two questions about all of this. One is, why did three of the best children's books writers of all time come out with mouse books this year? The other is, quite frankly, how do the three books compare?

I'll start by summarizing each book for you, with a lot more detail for Peck's story, since his wasn't around for my February post.

Lowry's Bless This Mouse features a tribe of church mice who live in a Catholic church called St. Bartholomew's. Their leader, Hildegarde, must keep her people safe. She must also fend off attempts by a sneaky rival to take her top spot. In order to maintain the status quo, Hildegarde enforces a strict policy of birth control in the mouse population. I know, it sounds like China's Communist oligarchy, but the book is actually light-hearted, the proverbial rollicking read. It turns out Hildegarde faces a bigger threat than Lucretia—the humans have learned of the mice and are planning to exterminate them. Hildegarde decides that the best way to protect her tribe is to evacuate to the outdoors till the danger has passed. Meanwhile, the human parishioners are gearing up for a ceremony in which children bring their pets to be blessed by Father Murphy, a tradition honoring St. Francis of Assissi. Hildegarde takes note of the fact that the church mice are not exactly invited to the blessing of the animals, adding another wrinkle to the story.

Voigt's Young Fredle is a sort of Jonathan Livingston Seagull character. (If you're too young to get that reference, here's the Wiki article.) He's a house mouse living on a farm, but he winds up outside quite by accident and doesn't know how to get back inside to his family. Fredle manages to stay alive, has all sorts of adventures, and becomes such a different person that he no longer fits in with his clan. He learns about snakes, raccoons, reliable and unreliable friends, and the stars. He's a bit of a philosopher, and his growing view of the world permeates the book.

In Richard Peck's Secrets at Sea, Helena and her three younger siblings—Louise, Lamont, and Beatrice—live with a nouveau riche family in turn-of-the-century New York. Our story begins when Louise bursts in with the news that the Cranston household is in an uproar, planning to go on some kind of journey because older daughter Olive "must be given Her Chance." The sisters hardly have time to parse this information before Lamont bursts in, missing his tail.

You get some idea of just how determined and brave Helena is when she makes Lamont take her to the scene of the crime to get that tail back. They make it out alive—barely. Then Helena sits right down and sews Lamont's tail back on.

The little mouse family realizes that the Cranstons intend to take a sea voyage in hopes of finding a fashionable husband for Olive, who appears to be in danger of becoming an old maid. (The teenage Cranston daughter Camilla is actually friends with Louise, which makes Helena nervous.) Following the counsel of her eccentric, oracular Aunt Fannie, Helena and her siblings accompany the Cranstons on their voyage. Once onboard ship, they discover a large number of mice crew and passengers whose behavior quietly mimics that of the human crew and passengers. Helena and her family also intervene in the lives of the Cranstons, who could certainly use the help.

Peck's wording, as always, is perfectly crafted, and his humor is sly and witty. Here are a couple of examples:

We are mice, and as Mother used to say, we are among the very First Families of the land. We were here before the squirrels. The squirrels came for the acorns. We sold them the acorns. (8)

From the rear Lamont looked ridiculous without his complete tail. He paused and put a finger to his chin, though he has no chin. He was stalling. (27)

"Why don't boys ever want to be themselves? Why do boys always want to be somebody else?" asked Louise, who wanted to be Camilla. (124)

As Aunt Fannie points out, Helena has her hands full with her siblings: Louise consorts with humans, Lamont takes wild, life-threatening risks, and Beatrice sneaks out to meet unsuitable mouse boys. Between them and the Cranstons, Helena can hardly keep it all straight. But she's quick on her four little feet, and this ocean voyage promises to be the making of both human and mouse families in unexpected ways.

Humor, action, plot twists, romance: Secrets of Sea has it all, just as you'd hope for when reading the latest from a dab hand like Richard Peck.

Now, let's consider the three books together.

Setting

Bless This Mouse—The church mouse premise and setting makes for some very fun jokes as well as a nice counterpoint between the human and mouse users of the building. Lowry has a good time with things like the mouse-eye view of the stories of the martyrs depicted in the stained glass.

Secrets at Sea—An ocean voyage evocative of the Titanic, only without the iceberg. Throwing mice into this supposedly elegant mix is clever and often funny.

Young Fredle—The farmhouse, barn, and outlying land become an entire universe for a small mouse. This setting is the most realistic of the three, especially the way Voigt uses it.

Anthropomorphizing

Bless This Mouse—Clothes are never mentioned in the text, but the mice are depicted on the book cover and in internal illustrations as wearing clothes, something the author would have had to approve. Hildegarde and her people all talk, and they are aware of human history and doings.

Secrets at Sea—It threw me a little when Helena explained that mice wear clothes in their own homes, but not when out where humans might see them. The mice in this book act like humans in a lot of ways, but must hide from humans and especially from cats.

Young Fredle—No clothing here. The mice in this book really do act like mice, but they do think, and they talk to each other and other animals.

Main Character

Bless This Mouse—Hildegarde is determined and often exasperated, but she has courage and leadership that go for miles, or at least for feet.

Secrets at Sea—Helena has a wonderful, strong voice and you'll be cheering for her every step of the way. She's not perfect: she's bossy and she thinks she's always right. But then, that's a pretty good take on a lot of oldest sisters (I say, speaking as one)! This book is the only one of the three written in first person, which quite suits the story.

Young Fredle—Fredle is a very rich character. It's so easy to put yourself in his place and/or worry about him as he learns about the greater world. Fredle is hopeful and yearning and kind and quite bright, even though he's lacking in all sorts of knowledge.

Suspense/Plot Twists

Bless This Mouse—The peril keeps this plot popping, as do Hildegarde's attempts to deal with everything that comes up. There are two plot twists that you may not see coming.

Secrets at Sea—Peck twists his plot like a pretzel, and the ongoing threat of discovery by humans makes this book a game of cat-and-mouse, sometimes literally.

Young Fredle—Like Fredle, you will never know quite what to expect, though there is some foreshadowing about dangers such as a snake in the barn.

Favorite Scenes

Bless This Mouse—The mousey interpretation of the church and its doings is amusing throughout (e.g., thoughts on the edibility of crayons), but I particularly liked the town meetings Hildegarde holds, filled with interruptions, colorful personalities, and political maneuvering.

Secrets at Sea—There's a lot to love here, but I was especially fond of a scene in which Helena and a little boy with a bed full of contraband sweets face down a mean nanny.

Young Fredle—One of the most intriguing sections of the book has to do with a group of rowdy raccoons who take Fredle prisoner. Their captain finds a fellow thinker in Fredle, but he's perfectly realistic about the likelihood of eating the mouse should other food options fail to present themselves.

Themes and Spirituality

Bless This Mouse—Lowry has interesting things to say about which animals humans value and which they don't. (I suspect the author is a vegetarian, but couldn't find confirmation of that.) Other themes are the importance of community and of focusing on what needs to be done rather than on status. Religion plays a key role in the book, but you will feel you are wrapped in a warm blanket of spirituality rather than being urged to follow any particular tradition.

Secrets at Sea—We are told more than once that mice must live in the moment because their lives are short and indeed, are often cut short. Helena tries to control her siblings and their fates, but she learns to let go in many ways. Another message is that you have to take risks, and just plain take action, to make your life better. On another note, the mouse perspective on human antics makes those interactions seem sillier than ever, for a nice slice of satire.

Young Fredle—This feels like a very philosophical coming-of-age story, but it manages not to preach. What matters most in life? Is surviving all there is to our existence? These are the kinds of questions Voigt raises in her book.

Illustrations

Bless This Mouse—Eric Rohmann is the illustrator. The jacket art shows a handful of very cute mice, with Hildegarde front and center. Interior illustrations, some full page, continue to highlight mouse personalities, focusing on body language and facial expressions. The artwork adds to the book.

Secrets at Sea—Illustrator Kelly Murphy's jacket art shows the four mouse siblings jauntily holding onto some sort of ship's tackle, with the sea in the background. These mice are a bit less cute than the ones in Bless This Mouse, but are still appealing. Interior illustrations do include some full-page spreads. The art is nice, but I didn't pay a lot of attention to it. Peck's words outgunned it at every (page) turn.

Young Fredle—Louise Yates is the illustrator. The cover art makes Fredle look a little too cartoony for my taste, with a touch of Quentin Blake to the style. But having him look up at the stars is nice, as well as thematically correct. He does appear a bit hapless, which also fits. The interior illustrations are sparse, mostly spot art. They actually distracted a little from my experience of the story when I noticed them.

Overall Success

Bless This Mouse—A very fun story. I wasn't sure the ending worked with everything that had come before, but maybe that's just me.

Secrets at Sea—Clever and outrageously entertaining.

Young Fredle—Deeply involving and moving. Fredle instantly leaps to the front of the pack when it comes to animal and even people stories about young people finding their place in the world.

Of course, now that I've done it, I'll admit it's entirely unnecessary to compare these books. I can happily recommend all three for your bookshelf. Unlike the Disney group, this Mouse club consists of exalted company indeed.

So why did three Newbery award-winning authors write mouse books at this stage of their careers? The obvious answer is, to have fun. To take it a little farther, however, I think once you pass a certain point in your life and work, you might just have room for real, I-know-exactly-who-I-am humility. And what could be more humble than a mouse? Through the little voice at the baseboards, these authors give us timeless truths, whether in Lois Lowry's comfortable church lady-running-a-committee persona, Peck's erudite tongue-in-cheek style, or Voigt's yearning, wondering tones.


Note: If you're feeling deprived on the spooky front, please visit my best Halloween post ever, "Enter Three Witches."

I Think Mice Are Rather Nice

Some years ago when I was teaching first grade, I posted Rose Fyleman's classic poem about mice on the wall. I remember one little boy, a kid who thought of himself as very cool, really fell in love with that poem. He used to stand there and read it to himself each morning.

What is it about mice? If we think too hard about it, they're invasive rodents, pests that call for traps and even exterminators. (Hint: Use peanut butter, not cheese.) But they're also awfully cute, with their babyish faces and small, clever bodies. They kind of look like little kids... And of course, there you have it. Which no doubt explains the numerous children's books about anthropomorphized mice!

I was particularly intrigued to note that two very famous children's authors came out with books featuring mice this spring—Lois Lowry and Cynthia Voigt, to be precise. Both of these authors are known for their serious, award-winning work for older middle grade readers. Lois Lowry is the author of the amazing book, The Giver, which won the Newbery in 1994, and of Number the Stars, which won the Newbery in 1990. Cynthia Voigt wrote the also-amazing Tillerman series, including Dicey's Song, the Newbery Award winner in 1983, and A Solitary Blue, a Newbery Honor book in 1984.

More recently, Lowry followed a string of serious books with a giddy tongue-in-cheek fairy tale, The Birthday Ball. And now there's this mouse book. Is she actually... having fun, our Ms. Lowry? And Voigt, of the rather dark, character-driven books—she wrote a mousy confection, too?

But I digress just a titch (mouse-like). Let me tell you about these books.

Bless This Mouse by Lois Lowry, illustrated by Eric Rohmann (April 12, 2011)

This is a sweet book, with a delightful main character in the form of Hildegarde, leader and even pastor of a clan of church mice. The story starts off with Hildegarde reprimanding a flighty young mother mouse for having another litter—too many mice, and the humans will catch on and call for a Great X, an extermination. (No actual mention of birth control, though!) We meet Hildegarde's friend Roderick, who appears to have a crush on Hildegarde. We also meet the thoroughly sniffy Lucretia, who would love to take over Hildegarde's position. And we get to explore the church building and spy on humans such as Father Murphy through mouse eyes, which is very entertaining.

Hildegarde rose from her night nest behind the expression pedal of the pipe organ. She always rose very early, particularly on Sundays, when the organist arrived to practice well before anyone else had entered the church. Sometimes Hildegarde scurried away just as he came up the stairs to the choir loft. But she had never been seen, and he had never noticed her small nest there, just behind the pedal where he placed his foot when he wanted a dramatic increase in volume. Sometimes the expression pedal was called the "swell" pedal because it caused the music to swell gloriously. But Hildegarde thought that was a rather vulgar term.

The Great X isn't Hildegarde's only fear for her people. A more immediate worry is the Blessing of the Animals, an event that will be moved indoors if it rains. An event bringing with it dozens of cats!

Hildegarde is clever, pragmatic, and likable as a main character who provides the narrative viewpoint. It probably won't occur to young readers that if she were human, she would be fifty or sixty. She comes up with plans for rescuing her clan from the various threats that hang over them and implements those plans nicely, with a few twists and turns along the way.

Hildegarde's character, the adventurous escapes from peril, the humor, and the mouse-eye view of the church are definitely the strengths of this book.

A couple of plot turns seem unconvincing, however, including a hint of romance and a final twist that tosses in fantasy elements not previously established. The scene also has Hildegarde acting in a way that seems a little out of character, aside from the general fact that she's courageous. You may find the ending reminiscent of Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson (1945 Newbery winner) and even Elizabeth Coatsworth's tale, The Cat Who Went to Heaven (1931 Newbery Medalist).

Religion plays a relatively significant role in this book set in a church, so I suppose Bless This Mouse might be less appealing to families who aren't religious. Of course, you can always think of it as simply another setting and subculture in that regard.

I should note that this is a slim book at 152 pages, which will make it a good pick for younger or reluctant readers. I'm guessing 8 to 10 is about the right age range, or you can use it as a read-aloud with second graders.

Bless This Mouse has a few glitches, but it's well crafted and fun. I especially like Hildegarde's solution to those horrible sticky traps. (I used one once while I was living in Chicago. Never again!) Give this cheery little book a try and see what you think!


Young Fredle by Cynthia Voigt, illustrated by Louise Yates (January 11, 2011)

Although humor gleams through this book like the stars which so attract the title character's attention, Voigt quickly moves past cute to write a character-driven story, a coming-of-age tale, an exploration of life and what it means to be—okay, well, not human so much as mouse, but still, Fredle is a hero for the ages.

He reminds me of the boy Jonas in Lowry's The Giver in some ways (ironically)—the daydreamer and visionary who comes to question tradition and go his own way. Fredle has a natural curiosity, a little more than most mice. "Fredle was curious about curiosity, and he did wonder if mice weren't right to be afraid of it." The only other mouse that seems to share his feelings is his girl cousin Axle. Together the two get into mischief in the house where they live. Their family of kitchen mice is conservative in its approach to danger and good health: The word "went" is used as a verb to describe dying and as a noun to describe the state of death in Fredle's clan. In fact, if a mouse is ill or injured, he is put out on the kitchen floor to die so that he won't endanger the others. Unfortunately, when Fredle and Axle find a Peppermint Pattie in the pantry and eat the entire thing, he gets so sick that his family thinks he's dying and shoves him out into the pantry. The cat would be happy to deal with him, but the human Missus can't quite bring herself to kill a baby mouse and carries him outside instead, dumping him in the backyard.

Talk about a fish out of water! Fredle isn't even sure what he's looking at half the time. It doesn't help that at this point he is still pretty sick. Having discovered dirt and grass, he encounters the lattice around the porch, a new hiding place:

...Fredle made his way cautiously toward the bright white wall. He pushed his way through the stalks, trying not to let his nails dig into the soft floor, because how could he know that his feet wouldn't sink so deeply into the softness that he'd be trapped? He trod as lightly as he could—and, being a mouse, that was very lightly—until he arrived at the wall with openings all along it as small as mouseholes, and some of them so low he could easily peer through.
He saw a shadowy light beyond the wall, and the odd floor smell was stronger in there. Nothing moved that he could see or hear, although it wasn't the same kind of empty quiet as a nighttime kitchen. Waiting beyond the white wall there seemed to be a dark, quiet territory, crowded with shadows and smells and sounds too soft and fine even for his ears, as if it was inhabited by creatures much smaller even than a mouse.
Most importantly, it smelled and sounded and felt safe, which the green stalks and bright air behind him did not. So Fredle scrambled up through one of the holes and tumbled down into darkness.

Note that none of these things (the dirt, the grass, and the lattice) are named at this point, so that readers have to figure out what Fredle's seeing right along with him. Thanks to Voigt's craft, Fredle's experiences feel very real. You will no doubt get a sense for what it's like to be a small, vulnerable animal out in the big world as you read this book. (You may just find your whiskers twitching!)

Little by little Fredle learns more about the backyard. He is sort of assisted by a field mouse named Bardo, though he quickly realizes that this new mouse is holding out on him and has a fairly limited interest in Fredle's survival. The compost heap holds food treasures for Fredle to nibble, but he must watch out for owls and other predators. Bardo's sister Neldo ends up being more helpful, as well as more open to getting to know Fredle.

Fredle also has encounters with the dogs; one of them, Sadie, is fairly friendly. And he avoids the cats, who are decidedly unfriendly. Besides which, Fredle gets to see the stars. He loves the stars!

But one night Fredle finds the garbage and is investigating the sweetness at the bottom of an almost-empty ice cream carton when he is captured by the Rowdy Boys, a crew of raccoons who save him to eat later.

The raccoons are one of Voigt's best creations. They keep Fredle prisoner for a few days, and it becomes clear that their leader, Captain Rilf, enjoys the mouse's company, if only because Fredle is nearly as smart as he is, unlike the other raccoons. But true to his nature, Rilf does plan to eat Fredle eventually, and Fredle must figure out how to escape and make his way back home. The odd little relationship between Fredle and Rilf is just one of the many nice touches in this book. And watch for the way the raccoons laugh; even better, note how Fredle picks up their style of laughing and takes it back home with him, to the astonishment of the other mice!

When Fredle does get back into the house, it is not to stay. He is not the same mouse he used to be. He meets the cellar mice first. To his surprise, they live in a sort of boring utopia free from predators. And Fredle's family really doesn't know what to make of their prodigal son, who is no longer amenable to every single one of their traditions.

On a poignant note, the formerly bold Axle has had an adventure of her own, but her reaction to the experience is far different from Fredle's.

Of course, one of the issues facing writers who anthropomorphize animals is how far to go with it. Voigt's mice are the perfect balance of very typical animal behaviors and human-like personalities. For example, the mice who live in the barn are stoic about the black snake who lives there, too. (Bardo remarks philosophically that the snake only eats one mouse every so often, so it's no big deal.)

And then there's Sadie, who is such a dog, playful and loyal and a little dense. Fredle helps her out at one point, and she later helps him, too.

All kinds of things happen, weaving in and out of the young mouse's world. When the human baby gets sick, Sadie worries a great deal, and Fredle is astonished to see that the baby comes home again, healed—as opposed to being left out on the human equivalent of the pantry floor to be "went." It's all rather intricate, considering the apparent simplicity of a mouse's life. Among other things, Fredle's understanding of the meaning of "home" changes along the way. His initial impulse is nothing more than to get back inside the house with his family, but eventually his hopes broaden even as his literal horizon has broadened.

I suppose this is a book for thoughtful children, as descriptions such as the one excerpted above take a little patience to read. But really, I think "becoming Fredle" might fascinate any reader but the most reluctant.

To tell you the truth, I'm not usually a fan of talking-animal books. But this one really got me. Fredle's adventures and evolution are just that good.


MORE MOUSE BOOKS

The following is a list of some of the many nice mouse books available in children's literature:

Picture Books

--Anatole (and sequels) by Eve Titus, illustrated by Paul Galdone
--Angelina Ballerina and sequels by Katharine Holabird, illustrated by Helen Craig
--Beatrix Potter's mouse stories, including The Tailor of Gloucester, The Tale of Two Bad Mice, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse, The Tale of Johnny Townmouse, and The Story of Miss Moppet
--City Mouse, Country Mouse by Aesop—various illustrators, perhaps most notably Jan Brett
--If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond
--Kevin Henkes' mouse stories, including Julius the Baby of the World, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, and Lilly's Big Day; also Sheila Rae the Brave, Wemberly Worried, Owen, Chrysanthemum, A Weekend with Wendall, and Chester's Way (fantastic books, every single one!)
--Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk
--The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (Caldecott winner 2010)
--The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood
--Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears by Emily Gravett
--Maisy (and sequels) by Lucy Cousins
--Mice Twice by Joseph Low
--Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley
--Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh (and sequels)
--The Princess Mouse, retold by Aaron Shepard, illustrated by Leonid Gore
--The Story of Jumping Mouse by John Steptoe
--The Sugar Mouse Cake by Gene Zion, illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham (out of print and hard to find, but worth it)
--A Visitor for Bear (and sequels) by Bonnie Becker, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton
--Whose Mouse Are You? by Robert Kraus, illustrated by Jose Aruego


Easy Readers

--Geronimo Stilton series, starting with Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye
--The King, the Mouse, and the Cheese by Nancy Gurney, illustrated by Eric Gurney (a classic!)
--Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel


Middle Grade Fiction

--Babymouse series by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
--Basil of Baker Street (series) by Eve Titus
--Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos, by Robert Lawson
--The Black Paw, etc. (Spy Mice series) by Heather Vogel Frederick, illustrated by Sally Wern Comport
--Miss Bianca and other books by Margery Sharp (see also the Disney movie, The Rescuers)
--The Mouse and His Child by Russell Hoban, illustrated by David Small (a classic, rather somber, about two clockwork mice)
--The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Ralph S. Mouse, and Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary
--A Mouse Called Wolf, Martin's Mice, and The Mouse Butcher by Dick King-Smith
--Poppy by Avi, illustrated by Brian Floca
--Redwall and other books in the series by Brian Jacques
--The Sands of Time by Michael Hague
--Stuart Little by E.B. White
--The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
--Tucker's Countryside by George Seldon, illustrated by Garth Williams


Young Adult

--Maus I and Maus II by Art Spiegelman (graphic novels about the Holocaust)


And of course, that's not counting mice who are strong secondary characters, such as Reepicheep in the Narnia books and Willie Fieldmouse in Lawson's Rabbit Hill. Plus movie and cartoon mice like Jerry of Tom and Jerry fame and his alter-ego, Itchy of the Simpsons' "Itchy and Scratchy Show," not to mention all those mice in Disney's Cinderella and Mickey Mouse. (I won't get into their cousins the rats except to give a shout-out to Ratatouille.)

Face it, our culture has quite the love affair with fictional mice! Perhaps it's only fitting that the very talented Lois Lowry and Cynthia Voigt have chosen to add to the mouse canon.

Mouse Book Suggestions from the Comments

--Jean Van Leeuwen's Lost Treasure series, starting with The Great Cheese Conspiracy (middle grade fiction)

--A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole (MG)

--mouse characters in Felice Holman's Cricket Winter, which was reissued a few years ago (MG)

--Ernest and Celestine picture books by Gabrielle Vincent

--mice in And Then There Were Gnomes, #2 in the MG graphic novel series Guinea Pig, Pet Shop Private Eye, by Colleen AF Venable, illustrated by Stephanie Yue

--Mouse Goes Out and Mouse Has Fun, early readers by Phyllis Root, illustrated by James Croft

--Ned Mouse Breaks Away, a surreal little MG by Tim Wynne-Jones, illustrated by Duran Petricic

--mice in Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien (MG)

--the Tumtum and Nutmeg series by Emily Bearn (Adventures Beyond Nutmouse Hall and The Rose Cottage Tales)

Feel free to list your favorite mouse books in the comments if I've missed them.

Note: I requested copies of Lowry's and Voigt's books from the Amazon Vine program.