Two Tiny Mice

Two mice explore the fields and woodlands around them, observing many animals before finally going home to sleep in their tiny nest

Kindergarten-Grade 3-- An introduction to the actual life of the wild animals found in Beatrix Potter's books, although here in full size with full color. Baker introduces in simple prose the English countryside seen from the mouse's-eye view of the title characters. They are not fearful prey when they observe predators, but simply observant bystanders whose job it is to take note of the wild residents of the expansive country that Baker sets as his purview. The text is simple, with an occasional extra comma. The pictures are large and detailed, with full backgrounds of natural fauna in colors so vivid as to verge on the fantastic. The countryside is neat and clean, with none of the real mud that even armchair tourists know can be found in such haunts. The distant backgrounds are occasionally whited out to emphasize the animals and flowers that frame the pictures quite decoratively, and the perspective is sometimes exaggerated, giving a surreal, dreamlike experience of things out of scale. A lovely coffee-table book for Anglophiles. --Ruth K. MacDonald, Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, IN
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

When two field mice take a peek at the vast world around them, they discover a whole host of interesting creatures. Baker's unusual "mouse's eye view" of nature provides an extraordinary wealth of detail. Flowers, berries, leaves and grasses fill his pages, providing a decorative frame for animals including a frog, a weasel, a squirrel and a fox. There is a pleasing continuity as the mice scamper forward in search of new sights, and children will relish finding the whimsical rodents on the bottom of each page. Baker's exquisite illustrations cannot fail to captivate, although they seem a bit static, as if the subjects are posing for photographs rather than going about their daily endeavors. Similarly, the simple text is soothing, and youngsters will enjoy the repetition of phrases as they identify each new creature, despite such uninspired descriptions as "the shy little sparrow," "a sly old fox," "a croaking frog" and "a quacking duck." Best to let the pictures, and young imaginations, speak for themselves. Ages 2-6.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The mice may be tiny, but they're displayed to fine advantage--and often larger than life--in this big, handsome book whose text simply enumerates the other creatures the mice see in the lovely British countryside, then tucks them in their nest for the night. The expansive, delicately detailed illustrations are the focus here; they are a pleasure--and a quiet reminder that this world is worth preserving. (Picture book. 2-7) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.