Review by Booklist Review
PreS. George's tale of two mice introduces one who sleeps in the clock and runs between socks in a drawer. His outside counterpart lives in a tree stump and races between rocks. The oversize volume is devoted to pointing out the differences in the way the mice live, what they eat, where they hide, and who their enemies are. But this is not a country mouse/city mouse story. Yes, the mice are adorable, but they aren't humanized-- at least in the story itself (they do, however, touch paws on the cover, and one plays a trumpet on the endpapers). Facing pages depict how their existences differ due to where each one lives. This display of difference, though informative, would have become boring, were it not for George's precisely rendered paintings. The mice frolic against jewel-toned backgrounds so exquisitely detailed that children can spot a tiny bug on a leaf in the background and individual hairs on a cat's coat. Unusual perspectives also add visual interest. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2004 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
George (Around the World: Who's Been Here?) employs her always impressive talent for detail to marvelous effect in this story of two mice whose lives run on parallel tracks-one inside a house, the other outside-until they meet at a window. The unseen narrator, a resident of the house, chronicles the rodents' transit. George has great fun showing how the almost identical descriptions that appear opposite one another on the spreads can yield very different visual results. The gray-brown inside-mouse runs "below the spider"-a drab brown insect knitting a cobweb bridging two corners-"and over the ball," which is festooned with stars. The golden-brown outside-mouse runs "below the spider"-a startling yellow-and-red creature looming from a pink wildflower-"and over the stone" that's also impressively decorated, albeit by the forces of erosion. In one cheeky spread, the inside mouse runs behind a book on birds, while the outside mouse runs behind a handsomely feathered example of the real thing. On every page, George couples her eye for particulars (the warp and woof of animals' coats, the mosaic of objects that make up the vistas of natural and domestic life) with brilliant colors and a masterful sense of light. Readers will delight in the mice's curiosity and determination, savor the richness of their respective worlds, and eagerly speculate on whether their hard-won meeting is a first or regular occurrence. Ages 3-up. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-A narrator introduces readers to two mice: "Inside my house there is a mouse,/Outside my house there is a mouse." The inside mouse sleeps in an old-fashioned clock, while the outside mouse snuggles in a tree stump. Line by line, with side-by-side, full-page illustrations, the story unfolds, tracing each mouse's journey from its home to the window of the house, where the two meet face to face, one looking out and one looking in, and say "Hello." Gouache paintings in breathtaking colors create zoom-lens views of each of the not-so-different worlds of these two creatures. The pictures are packed with interesting details just waiting to be explored. The simple text, presented in a large typeface at the bottom of the pages, compares and contrasts the animals' environments and lifestyles. The overall effect is mesmerizing, and the intriguing parallels will capture readers' imaginations. This creative book makes a great choice for sharing aloud and for independent reading. It's also an excellent tool for teaching the concept of compare/contrast.-Wanda Meyers-Hines, Ridgecrest Elementary School, Huntsville, AL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Preschool) Parallel events, related in contrasting colors of type on facing pages, emanate from two alternating narrations: ""Inside my house there is a mouse, / Outside my house there is a mouse, / who sleeps in a clock. / who sleeps in a stump""--and so on, as similar activities of the two mice in their different venues are contrasted on each spread. Both the gray house mouse and the reddish-brown field mouse can run on a vertical, be it wall or stump; both sneak past larger animals (cat, hare) and explore small places (among socks or rocks). Finally, ascending a baseball bat (inside) and a hose (out), they meet at a closed window, where each peers curiously into the other's world, now shown entire for the kind of reprise that delights small listeners. Indeed, the book lends itself to participation all the way through; the text on verso and recto varies by only one or two significant words, so that if the reader supplies the first a young listener can easily derive the second from the illustration (""below the spider, and over the ball. / below the spider, and over the stone""). George's pen and gouache art is both decorative and elegantly precise when it comes to flora and fauna, of which there is much more to discover and identify than is named in the brief text. In a last vignette, plus a dozen more on the endpapers, the two mice have somehow come together as friends; it's not in the story, but it's charming all the same. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A house mouse, who sleeps inside a clock, and a field mouse, who sleeps inside a stump, travel corresponding routes to greet each other at either side of the house window. Both the brief text and the full-bleed gouache paintings are parallel, offering the repetition and predictability that is especially appealing to young children. Though the story is slight, the concept is cleverly engaging with the next-to-last spreads depicting the overall route each mouse has taken to reach the window sill. George demonstrates her usual command of her medium; her delicate line perfectly suits the mouse's-eye view of house and garden (the house mouse passes under the nose of a large dozing dog while the field mouse passes a squirrel, all finely detailed). The occasional striking perspective focuses attention. With its large format, clear illustrations, and the most appealing mice readers have ever seen, this will be popular for both group and individual sharing. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
