Cheerful (New York Review Children's Collection)

An Easter story for young readers.  This is the tale of a little church mouse named Cheerful who lives in the city with his parents; his brother, Solemnity; and his sisters, Faith and Hope. Cheerful and his brother and sisters spend their time frolicking in the rainbow shadows cast by the church’s stained-glass windows and dining on the crumbs of wedding cakes. But while Solemnity, Faith, and Hope are happy to live in the bustling city, Cheerful’s favorite spot has always been the greenest patches of light under the windows. His dream is to settle in the country, and one day he bids his family farewell and sets off on an adventure.

Palmer Brown’s intricate filigreed drawings turn this sweet, simple story into an instrument of enchantment as glorious as a rose window and as intimate as the spun-sugar Easter egg that will finally carry Cheerful to his pastoral home.

Palmer Brown (1919–2012) was born in Chicago and attended Swarthmore and the University of Pennsylvania. He was the author and illustrator of five books for children: Something for Christmas; Beyond the Pawpaw Trees, and its sequel, The Silver Nutmeg; Cheerful; and Hickory—all published by The New York Review Children’s Collection.