The Secret House of Papa Mouse. This item is unavailable.The Secret House of Papa Mouse

Tucked away in the attic of an apartment building, each room of the Mouse Family's house is furnished with familiar household objects that have been taken from the people who live below.

PreSchool-Grade 2–Children who like to create or imagine secret spaces for dolls, mice, fairies, or other small beings will pore over this picture book with the concentration of professional interior designers. The story, which pales next to the pictures, tells of Papa Mouse, who steals odds and ends from apartment residents to furnish his family's eight-room home in the attic. The mouse house is a secret, but readers are invited in for a tour of the rooms and the terrace. The left-hand side of the spread shows a grid of photographs of missing objects and faces a photograph of a room that contains those items and more. The realistic interiors are interesting, but the cartoon mice are awkwardly incorporated into them, and the rhyming text does not always flow smoothly. Still, the clever, colorful pictures are highly entertaining and can capture children's imaginations for hours.–Julie Roach, Watertown Free Public Library, MA
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PreS-Gr. 2. As in Joan Steiner's Look-Alikes series, this title features richly imagined composites of small, everyday items assembled to create elaborate miniature worlds: stacked matchboxes become dresser drawers; an oven mitt is an easy chair. A slim story introduces Papa Mouse, who has appropriated items from the human homes in his neighborhood and turned them into cozy furnishings for his family. The interiors are not as expertly constructed as Steiner's, and the rhyming, singsong text doesn't always work. But children will enjoy poring over the complex scenes and finding the stolen items, which are pictured individually on the opposite page. Dollhouse fans who enjoy handicrafts, including those slightly older than the target audience, will also find plenty of inspiration for decorating their own small rooms. For larger collections in which the Look-Alikes books have been a wild success. Gillian Engberg
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