A NEW HOUSE FOR MOUSE

Effectively using die-cuts and vivid colors, this simple, cunning tale of a determined mouse puts a twist on a familiar round-robin tale (in this case, round-about mouse). One morning, Little Mouse looks out of her tiny hole and sees a big apple, but it’s too big to fit into her house. Off she goes to find a bigger one, but house-hunting makes her hungry and she takes a few bites out of the apple. More bites later, when neither Mole’s, nor Rabbit’s, nor Badger’s houses will do, she asks Bear about his cave, but he scares her and she runs off. Suddenly she spies a tiny hole and her apple (now a core) fits in perfectly. Watercolor and cut-paper illustrations by Czech painter Horácek are sprightly, with the die-cuts adding surprises for young listeners who may not get the “no-place-like-home” message from the first reading—but they will by the second or third. Enticing cover, plucky mouse, appealing outing. (Picture book. 3-5)