Review by Booklist Review
When a wheel of cheese lands on a branch outside Mr. Squirrel's home, he concludes it is the moon and that he will be imprisoned for stealing it. He attempts to dispose of the evidence by pushing it to the ground, where it lands on Mrs. Hedgehog. Soon other creatures become involved in the caper: Billy Goat spears it with his horns, bees mistake it for a hive, and some mice make a good meal of it. Finally, they catapult the crescent-shaped remains into the sky, where it becomes the moon. Translated from the original German, Meschenmoser's minimalist text provides only a bare-bones story, while the illustrations black-and-white pencil sketches accented in color with a bright yellow cheese fill in the details. Some highlights: the two spreads leading up to the title page revealing the disc is really cheese, and a black-and-white scene depicting Mr. Squirrel (and his friends) sharing a jail cell with a solitary prisoner. This makes a good choice for story hours or one-on-one sharing.--Weisman, Kay Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Meschenmoser's story opens as a wheel of yellow cheese rolls off its wagon, hurtles off a cliff, and lands on a branch outside a squirrel's home. In the same sort of misidentification that drove Meschenmoser's Waiting for Winter, Mr. Squirrel concludes that the yellow cheese is the moon, and worries that he'll be fingered as its thief: "He'd be arrested and thrown in prison." A silent spread pictures the squirrel's fears with mordant humor as he appears in a small prison uniform, reflecting remorsefully as his human cellmate works on a piece of embroidery. (Further inspection reveals a miniature squirrel-sized latrine along the back wall.) The action heats up as a hedgehog, billy goat, and crew of mice join the fray (further crowding the imaginary prison cell of the conscience-stricken squirrel) until they can work out how to put the cheese back where it belongs. Meschenmoser's soft pencil portraits of the squirrel's inner fears teeter right at the sweet spot between anguish and humor. The story's deepest pleasure comes from the contrast between its ever-more-ridiculous scenarios and the artist's solemn, classically proportioned drafting style. Ages 4-8. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-This story starts before the title page and won't make sense if readers skip these early pages. Wordless drawings depict a large wheel of cheese falling from a farmer's cart and rolling off a cliff. The next morning, Mr. Squirrel discovers what he thinks is the moon perched on a branch of his tree. Worried that he might be arrested if someone finds him with what must surely be a stolen item, he gets rid of the moon by pushing it off the branch. Unfortunately, it lands on Mrs. Hedgehog and gets stuck on her back. A billy goat comes along and butts the moon with his horns and charges a tree. The goat spends the night attached to both the moon and the tree with the hedgehog still dangling. The next morning some bees and mice, obviously realizing the round yellow object is edible, munch away until it is just a sliver. The goat and hedgehog are freed, and the animals slingshot the moon back into the sky where they hope it will recover its original shape. The story is told in a wry, matter-of-fact style. The illustrations are mostly black and white sketches that contrast with the bright yellow cheese/moon. The book's droll sense of humor is marred, however, by three spreads that presumably come from the worried squirrel's imagination. These dark pictures of a man in jail are downright creepy and ruin the playful tone of the story. Readers should use their judgment when sharing this book with children.-Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT (c) Copyright 2014. 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
When a wheel of cheese rolls off a cart, over a cliff, and lands in Mr. Squirrel's tree, Mr. Squirrel concludes that someone stole the moon and left it with him. A frantic brown squirrel and an enormous yellow "moon" stand out against intricate black-and-white illustrations, including several wordless spreads that contribute to the quiet tone of this gently humorous German import. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
