The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail - Softcover

Peck, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0142425303 ISBN 13: 9780142425305

Publisher: Puffin Books, 2014

Synopsis

Set off on an amazing quest with this lovable orphaned mouse.

The tiniest mouse in the Royal Mews is such a mystery he doesn’t even know his own name! He scampers off on a epic adventure in and around Buckingham Palace with a plan to seek the advice of Queen Victoria. The exhilarating journey takes him to strange and wonderful places, but will it help him discover who he is and where he came from? This delightful follow-up to the acclaimed Secrets at Sea from Newbery Medal winner Richard Peck is full of laughs, surprises and excitement.

“This clever yarn should delight fans of animal adventure stories.” —Booklist, starred review

“Readers will gleefully suspend disbelief as they trace Mouse Minor’s exciting journey.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

About this title

About the Author

RICHARD PECK (1934-2018) was born in Decatur, Illinois and lived in New York City for nearly 50 years. The acclaimed author of 35 novels for children and young adults, he won the Newbery Medal for A Year Down Yonder, a Newbery Honor for A Long Way from Chicago, the Scott O’Dell Award for The River Between Us, the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Are You in the House Alone?, a Boston Globe-Horn BookAward Honor for The Best Man, and the Christopher Medal for The Teacher’s Funeral. He was the first children’s author ever to have been awarded a National Humanities Medal, and was twice a National Book Award Finalist.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* There is a basic philosophy underlying this sweet mouse-out-in-the-world story: “For every human on earth, there is a mouse doing the same job, and doing it better.” A tiny, unnamed mouse, with notched ears and a tail that falls naturally into the shape of a question mark, attends the Royal Mews Mouse Academy, taught by toothy headmaster B. Chiroptera. But after being bullied by other mice and driven by the essential question of his identity, the mouse leaves the academy and hatches a rather unformed plan to visit ancient Queen Victoria, awaiting her Diamond Jubilee, in the hopes that the all-knowing monarch can tell him who he is. Along the way to Buckingham Palace, he rides in the ear of a horse named Peg (it’s very waxy), falls into a punch bowl (it’s very pink), and meets a cast of mice—and bats—who serve the queen. Murphy’s black-and-white illustrations, with pulled quote captions, add charm in spades, and there’s one tipped-in full-color illustration in each of the book’s three main parts. You can’t help but make comparisons to some other very famous books about mice, namely Kate DiCamillo’s The Tale of Despereaux (2003) and E. B. White’s Stuart Little, but the parallel world of mice and humans also echoes Mary Norton’s The Borrowers (1952). Peck (A Year Down Yonder, 2000) is terrific in relaying small details, like the intricacy of mouse uniforms, and this clever yarn should delight fans of animal adventure stories. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Peck is a Newbery Award winner for A Year Down Yonder and a two-time National Book Award finalist. This may be a book about a tiny mouse, but it’ll be big on everyone’s radar. Grades 3-5. --Ann Kelley

About this edition

• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0142425303
• ISBN 13: 9780142425305
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256