EVERGREEN

In this debut children’s novel, three mouse sisters find fun and adventure with their fellow creatures in a small Georgia town.

This story features numerous animals and two benign humans in a little town called Evergreen. The sympathetic humans are Josiah Hillendale, a white man who owns a nearby sawmill and lumber company; and his right-hand man who runs the sawmill, Joe Phillips, who’s black. Most of the action, however, centers on the Hopkinses, a mouse family residing in a cozy den on the outskirts of the sawmill. There, three sisters grow up: responsible Pouxie, timid Mouxie, and bouncy Chrissie, the youngest, who “can sniff out happiness the way most creatures can sniff out supper.” The siblings have a festive game day with their parents, help deter greedy ants from ruining Mama’s shopping trip, visit their squirrel friends’ treehouse, and “go to school”—that is, feast on leftovers from human kids’ lunches. Lessons of kindness, teamwork, generosity, and confidence-building are an organic part of the story; anxious Mouxie, for instance, learns that planning ahead can alleviate worry; the sisters and the protective Crow brothers befriend a neglected mule; and a fat sawmill cat learns something about hubris when he’s hurt while attempting to ambush Mama Hopkins. (Joe helps heal the cat’s injuries and battered pride.) The book’s quirky, conversational style offers read-aloud appeal for young children and tongue-in-cheek humor that older elementary school readers (and adults) will appreciate; Papa Hopkins, for example, indulges in a “toot” of hidden berry juice; voracious reader Joe likes J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen King, and “lots of things in between,” including books like Saw Tooth Sharpening. Noreikas’ graphite-and-ink–style illustrations of animals, humans, and maps are a delight, rendered with skill and comic wit. The book concludes with plot points that the next volume of the planned trilogy will likely resolve.

A pleasant book featuring playful storytelling and gentle lessons in character-building.