A Most Mysterious Mouse
A Most Mysterious Mouse
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Written by Giovanna Zoboli
Illustrated by Lisa D'Andrea
Translated from Italian by Antony Shugaar
It seems fair to say that there have never been as many mice in any book as there are in this one! This may well be because the protagonist, a singular and most ambitious cat, has promised himself that by the age of eighteen he will have imagined ONE MILLION MICE! Every stripe of mouse is imagined here, except for one—the most mysterious mouse!
ISBN: 978-1-59270-213-8
8.5" (W) x 12.2" (H) • 40 pages • HCJ
Grade Level: 4
Interest Level: 1-5
Lexile Level: 660
Guided Reading Level: Q
REVIEWS
"Touching on themes of solitude, creativity, and obsession, it’s a story that’s alternately elusive and philosophical, thanks to Shugaar’s mischievous translation and D’Andrea’s sly, sleek, and sumptuous drawings." ―Publishers Weekly
"I can’t tell you how much I love this book. It’s the only picture book I’ve read that really gets to the heart of the creative process, how strong an idea can be, how it can take over your entire imagination until, finally you find what you’re looking for. It’s playfully written by Giovanna Zoboli and translated from the Italian by Antony Shuggar. Lisa D’Andrea illustrated it with the sweetest colored pencil drawings, emphasizing form over splashy colors. There’s lots of white space in the story—room for imagination and for a fantasy about mice—one hundred mice, one million mice! But especially one mysterious mouse that hides on the edge of a wide eyed tabby cat’s imagination. A mouse he can’t quite see as well as he’d like, but knows is there, if only he thinks, imagines, spends enough time alone, pondering mice. And he’s not doing all this creative work for food—he wants it to understand it, appreciate its particular mouse-ness and bring it fully to life. […] What creative person can’t identify with that? What child, left alone long enough, won’t begin to imagine something wonderful, if only they have time to daydream? Whether it’s an image, a story, a song—we have to sit with our ideas for as long as it takes until the right one comes along. The one only we can bring to life." ― Joy Murray, joymurray.com
”…D'Andrea's pencil drawings are wonderful from end page to end page. … A gorgeous and very strange picture book debut that is sure to get readers talking and perhaps scratching their heads.” —Sarah Wilsman, Bainbridge Library, School Library Journal