One Little Mouse
reSchool-K-A charming counting book that will appeal especially to the read-aloud set. As a little mouse searches for a new shelter, he visits nine woodland families and tries living in their various homes. Finding each one unsatisfactory (the moles' "diet was wormish,/And that made Mouse squirmish"), he realizes that his own home is just right after all. The text has a comforting cadence that is maintained throughout the book. Readers are introduced to one mouse on the first page, two moles on the second, three meadow frogs on the third, and so on up to 10 opossums. Pham's watercolor-and-gouache illustrations are printed on Arches Cold Press paper and do an excellent job of expressing the adorable mouse's emotions at each home he visits. The spreads each consist of a full-sized color illustration facing easy-to-read text fitted neatly around a smaller, complementary painting depicting the mouse's discomfort. Each text page begins with a number spelled out in colored letters in a larger font. As the story comes to a close, the mouse passes each of the nine other sleeping families on his way back home. Children will delight in searching them out, and will come away from the story with the subtle message that whether it's a tree, hole, or house, there's no place like home.Cathie E. Bashaw, Somers Library, NYCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.