The Bookstore Mouse - Hardcover

Christian, Peggy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0152002030 ISBN 13: 9780152002039

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers, 1995

Synopsis

After literally falling into a story, a mouse named Cervantes discovers the true power of words. This rollicking allegory is for every book lover, every story lover, every lover of words--and the bane of censors everywhere.

About this title

About the Author:

PEGGY CHRISTIAN has been a reading specialist, a bookstore manager, a teacher of language arts and writing, and the author of a picture book, If You Find a Rock. She lives in Missoula, Montana.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 4-6?This witty fantasy's creative use of wordplay is reminiscent of Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth (Knopf, 1972). Cervantes, the mouse inhabitant of an antiquarian bookstore, literally lives on words. His home lies behind the books in the reference section, and he eats delicious-sounding terms peeled out of cookbooks. His favorite activity is finding verbal ways to torment the resident cat. One day, Cervantes's world is disturbed by a human browser and he finds refuge in a beautiful leather-bound volume. Perusing Chapter One, the mouse makes two astonishing discoveries. First, when words are strung together, they make a story?and, strangely, this realization is a key that allows him to take part in the story he now reads. Transported to a medieval English monastery, he meets and has an adventure with Sigfried, a young scribe with a poor vocabulary. Along the way, both of them learn much about the real meaning of words. Cervantes is a charming narrator. While Sigfried is likable, his habit of substituting terms like "whosits" and "dingus-whatsit" for words he doesn't know does become annoying. Still, the tale is enjoyable, and will inspire young readers to think carefully about their own use of vocabulary.?Mary Jo Drungil, Niles Public Library District, IL
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0152002030
• ISBN 13: 9780152002039
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144
• Illustrator: Lippincott Gary A.