Cat and Mouse Story. How to Catch a Mouse by Philippa Leathers

THIS IS CLEMMIE. CLEMMIE IS A BRAVE, FEARSOME MOUSE CATCHER.

SHE IS EXCELLENT AT STALKING AND CHASING--SHE'S PATIENT AND ALERT.

All good qualities for an apprentice mouser, certainly. However, Clemmie has never actually seen a mouse, which she takes as an affirmation of her mouse-deterring powers. Still, to be thorough, she consults a book, How to Spot A Mouse.

A MOUSE HAS A LONG PINK TALE.

Oblivious to the gray mouse readomg over her shoulder, Clemmie looks about for something long, pink, and tail-like Ah, there!!

As Mouse struts by with a fluffy purple yarn bunny tail tied around his middle, the kitty spots something long and pink dangling from the table. Pounce!

OOPS! A big garden hat with long chin strings fall over her. The mouse snickers.

Clemmie looks for something with round ears. Oblivious of Mouse with a pink sock over his ears, she spots something suspicious. There, under the bed! Ooops. A toy panda. Rats!

Mice have wiggly black whiskers! What's that on the shelf in the bathroom? Crash!

Ick! A long-legged spider! Run away! Run away!

Clemmie hears some crinkly noises from the kitchen. A noshing mouse messing with the family's crackers? Pounce! Clemmie's got nothing in her paws, while a giggling mouse in fake nose and glasses slips away from the scene with a snack.

Aha! Two can play at that game. Clemmie, clad in a sleuth-ish trenchcoat and fedora conceals herself among the hanging jackets on the coat rack. And what is that she sees walking confidently by? A mouse? At last a positive visual ID!

And the chase is on, in Philippa Leathers' How to Catch a Mouse (Candlewick Press, 2015). Leathers' Clemmie is about the cutest mouse-catcher kitty ever, but her prey has more disguises than Sherlock, all quite easy to see through for the preschoolers who will have plenty of fun spotting Clemmie's equally appealing Mouse on every page. School Library Journal says, "A sweetly funny tale for storytimes or one-on-one read-alouds."

Hearty Matters: Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse by Laura Numeroff

MOUSE IS MAKING VALENTINES FOR FRIENDS.

HE WANTS EACH ONE TO BE JUST RIGHT!

That jolly, overall-clad mouse has all the supplies for festive homemade Valentines--colored paper, scissors, ribbon, and the all important (Yipes!) red glitter to sprinkle over the gluey hearts.

It's a housekeeping nightmare, but Mouse is determined that Dog, Bunny, Cat, and Pig will have just the perfect Valentine for that all important day for showing your friends that you care about them.

And the gang knows that as well, with the final two-page spread showing them, loaded down with their own creations, rushing in to give Mouse a rousing happy Valentine's Day greeting as well.

With its theme of the fun of planning a surprise for others, Laura Numeroff's little board book Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse! (If You Give...) (Balzer & Bray, 2009) from her ever-popular If You Give a Mouse series, makes perfect use of Felicia Bond's wonderful illustrations, set off against a bright white sturdy board background, to inspire preschoolers to do their own personalized Valentines for the big day. Happy Valentine's Day to you, too, Mouse!

Mouse House: A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole

With a tip of his hat to Robert Lawson and his classic Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos, illustrious illustrator Henry Cole's first novel, A Nest for Celeste: A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home (HarperCollins, 2010) tells the story of another mouse who, befriended by a famous person, becomes closely involved in history.

It is 1821, and Celeste, an independent young mouse, lives beneath the floorboards of Oakley Plantation in Louisiana. Happy among her artisanal paw-crafted baskets, Celeste has only two concerns: Illiana and Trixie, cantankerous rats who order her to forage in the upstairs dining room floor for their treats, and Miss Eliza's cat, Puss, who snoozes fitfully as she guards that domain against rodent incursions. On one unwanted foray, Celeste hears the master of the house welcoming two visitors, Monsieur John James Audubon, hired to tutor young Eliza in art and dance, and his thirteen-year-old apprentice Joseph, an art student who is to do the backgrounds for the bird portraits Audubon plans to complete while at Oakley.

But Celeste's food-gathering mission is interrupted by Puss, who chases her upstairs, where the little mouse scoots under a closed door and finds refuge in a boot pushed far under a cot in the small bedroom. That boot turns out to belong to young Joseph, who is lonely and adopts the little field mouse as his pet, carrying her about in his shirt pocket and letting her watch as he struggles with his art assignments. Then one day Celeste is appalled to see the determined Audubon killing a bird to use as his model, directing Joseph to pin it to a board in a lifelike pose for the portrait he is painting. And when a young wood thrush named Cornelius is captured and stuffed into a small cage, Celeste is sure the friendly bird will meet the same fate unless she can intervene. Later, when she hears Cornelius warble his thanks for her gift of a sprig of dogwood berries, she has an inspiration:

"Do that for Joseph!" she says. "Sing just like that. Promise me."

Celeste coaches Cornelius in just how to sing and strike live poses to please the two artists, and his life is spared until Celeste is able to help him escape. And when Lafayette, an osprey who rescued and flew Celeste home when she was lost in the woods, is captured, Celeste teaches him how to model for Audubon and saves his life as well. Lafayette is quite a character, returning the favor by managing to rid the plantation house of the disagreeable Trixie, who orders him to take her for a flight in the woven basket gondola Celeste designs. As the bossy rat enjoys the scenery, Lafayette pays his debt during the tour by dropping her off "accidentally" for an extended holiday.

"Oh, Holy Crawdad," says Lafayette. "I'm afraid Miss Trixie won't be coming back."

Henry Cole, whose notable illustrations have enlivened many a picture book, rises to a new level with soft, pencil drawings which become the heart of his first novel. Cole's work, subtle yet evocative, flows seamlessly from page to page, changing focus and perspective, now taking in the whole plantation house from above, now focusing in on Celeste's tiny artisan's paws, and supports his graceful storytelling elegantly. Celeste is a wonderful little heroine, a mouse who inspires art and friendship while dodging a determined mouser and who, with the help of her feathered friends, finds her own perfect attic refuge at last. Cole has given elementary readers memorable illustrations and a wonderful cast of characters headed by a mouse who can stand tall with such company as Stuart Little and Despereaux.

As the writer for Kirkus Reviews says, this book is "a rare gift: a novel with artwork as whole and vital as a picture book's."

Cat & Mouse by Ian Schoenherr

I love little kitty; her coat is so warm.
And if I don't hurt her, she'll do me no harm.

So I won't pull her tail, nor drive her away,
But kitty and I, very gently will play.

A jaunty, tiny-parasol-toting mouse has nothing but kind words for the cat of the house, as, tongue in cheek, he taunts and teases the long-suffering but secretly intrigued tabby as they play out the fabled narrative of cat and mouse.

To the measured cadence of "Hickory Dickory Dock," the mouse stays one step ahead of the cat until he is forced to zip up the pull chain of the cuckoo clock and take refuge inside the cuckoo's door. When the cat lays a claw on the clock, however, the mouse jumps free, using his paper umbrella as a parachute to the floor and makes a well-timed dash for his mouse hole in the wall. On a wordless double-page spread, we see the amused tabby playing with the left-behind parasol while the mouse peeps from the safety of his hole.

But the gray mouse still has a few tricks up his paw. Rolling an enticing ball of green yarn out of the mouse hole, he lures the cat into attacking it, rolling over and over with his prize as the mouse shrewdly reels the ball of yarn back toward his hideout.

I'll never vex her, nor make her displeased.
Kitty can't bear to be worried or teased.

When the cheeky mouse makes a lariat out of the free end of the yarn and deftly lassos the kitty's back toe, it appears that tabby is beginning to show a bit of measured vexation, as ears back, she lets out an exasperated meow. To make amends, Mouse slyly pats the kitty's toe, and the encounter ends, as it began, in a cat and mouse stalemate, to be continued, we presume, only as long as it takes for the tabby to finish her timely bowl of milk.

She'll sit by my side, and I'll give her some food,
And kitty will love me, because I am good.

Ian Schoenherr's illustrations for his latest, Cat & Mouse, are exquisitely done, imparting just the right touch of irony in juxtaposition with the old nursery rhyme's sweet counsel for kindly cat care, in a delightful reinterpretation of an old rhyme which will make it memorable for the youngest readers.