Goodbye Mousie - Hardcover

Harris, Robie H.; Ormerod, Jan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689832176 ISBN 13: 9780689832178

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry, 2001

Synopsis

Angry and upset when his pet Mousie dies, a little boy learns that it is okay to be mad, and as he prepares to bury Mousie, he discovers that memories and sadness are all part of the grieving process, in a poignant picture book that will help little ones deal with loss. 15,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Robie H. Harris began her career as a teacher at the Bank Street College of Education's School for Children. Her books for children include the best-selling It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health; It's So Amazing! A Book About Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families; Happy Birth Day!; and Hi New Baby!, all illustrated by Michael Emberley. Robie H. Harris lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

From Publishers Weekly

Harris (It's Perfectly Normal) and Ormerod (Miss Mouse Takes Off) admirably and successfully tackle a child's first encounter with death, through the loss of a beloved pet. "When I woke up this morning, I tickled Mousie's tummy. But Mousie didn't wake up," says the unnamed narrator, a preschool-age boy. Author and artist both possess an acute sense of the boy's emotional trajectory. After his first outpouring of grief and anger (which Ormerod depicts in a stunning facial close-up), the boy focuses on preparations for Mousie's funeral, busily filling the coffin with mementos and then decorating it with "wiggly stripes." But his composure crumbles when he discovers a piece of toast missing from his plate: "Where did it go? Did it die too?" Acceptance finally comes after he and his parents bury Mousie, and it is authentically childlike: "So, maybe someday, I'll get another mouse," the boy says, stretched across the floor and contemplatively dawdling with Mousie's exercise wheel. "But not just yet." The artist's fluid pencil lines underscore the vulnerability of the boy and the poignancy of his story. Uplifting details (the boy's mouse slippers, a stuffed mouse toy) offer a glimmer of hope, and the solidity at the heart of her characterizations especially in the portraits of the narrator seeking comfort from his parents will be immensely reassuring to young readers. Ages 4-8.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0689832176
• ISBN 13: 9780689832178
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32