Goodbye Mousie - Softcover

Harris, Robie H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0689871341 ISBN 13: 9780689871344

Publisher: Aladdin, 2004

Synopsis

One morning a boy finds that his pet, Mousie, won't wake up. The truth is Mousie has died. At first the boy doesn't believe it. He gets very mad at Mousie for dying, and then he feels very sad. But talking about Mousie, burying Mousie in a special box, and saying good-bye helps this boy begin to feel better about the loss of his beloved pet.

About this title

About the Author

Jan Ormerod (1946–2013) was an award-winning author who grew up in Western Australia. As a child Jan drew constantly, and she eventually went on to attend art school and study drawing, painting, and sculpture. During her career Jan published more than fifty books, including Sunshine, Lizzie Nonsense, Water Witcher, and Maudie and Bear. Her work, which resonated with young children and adults alike, won many prestigious awards and received much acclaim.

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: Aladdin
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0689871341
• ISBN 13: 9780689871344
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Ormerod Jan