Little Mouse by Alison Murray

Little Mouse by Alison Murray
Buy Little Mouse by Alison Murray at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Kerry King
Summary: Little Mouse can waddle like a penguin, eat like a horse and splash like a whale. So why does her mother call her Little Mouse? Because, sometimes, it's nice to be quiet and cosy, especially when it's time to cuddle with your mum. Alison Murray, working with Scottish Booktrust as their first writer-in-residence, has created this engaging and heart-warming story about the relationship between a little girl and her mother.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: January 2012
Publisher: Orchard
ISBN: 978-1408316337
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Sometimes, when I am being very quiet and cuddly, my mummy calls me her little mouse. Although mostly, Little Mouse is anything but quiet, just as you would expect from a pre-school age child; she can waddle like a penguin, eat like a horse and splash like a whale in author Alison Murray's gorgeous wander through the daytime exploits of an imaginative little girl, who likes to turn the plainest of activities into something fun and adventurous, becoming her favourite animals en route.

One of the reasons I fell head over heels for this book is a personal one; my 4 year old daughter also gets called mummy's little mouse… or just Mouse so I latched on to this particular story a little more fervently than your average bear perhaps might. But the fact remains that even if you are stoic enough not to melt at the beautiful illustrations of a mummy wrapping up her funny little mouse for a huge bedtime cuddle, then you will not fail to be captivated by this lovely, happy, inventive little girl having the best time ever with just her imagination as a play-thing.

We live in a world of expensive plastic toys, computer games, branded dolls and Disney-alia and to take a literary wander alongside this child who is capable of amusing herself purely with the power of her own mind, whilst going through her every day activities was just sheer, unadulterated joy. It reminded all of us in our house, that sometimes simplicity is best and when I asked my four year old what she liked about this story, her response was swift Mummy, I can do all those things too. Now, at the time of asking, it was bedtime but it proved too difficult (and a bit too churlish) to stop her from showing me her penguin and horse though we managed to fall gratefully short of having her leap back into the bath in her pyjamas to give me some whale. Something else we noticed about this charming book that gave it an extra dimension, was that the inner 'linings' of the start and finish of the book have pictures of the corresponding creatures referred to in the book and we took great pleasure going through which animal was which and as with the elephant and the lion, what interesting noises they make.

In summary, the simplicity of the story is key to its charm, although the illustrations aren't hurting it one bit; they are beautifully, carefully, sympathetically drawn and I adore them in a standalone capacity as much as the parts of the story they represent.

Go and buy this book for your little one and along the way be reminded yourselves how much fun you had when you were a kid.

For further reading along the same illustrated beautifully vein, I would have to recommend The Magic Paintbrush by Julia Donaldson. We highly revere Ms Donaldson in our house and there is not a foot she can put wrong in our eyes. I'd also have to suggest, whilst on the subject of bedtime hugs One More Hug For Nutmeg by Caroline Jayne Church because it's gorgeous, it's also a mouse and it's a great book for parents who have kids that are reluctant to settle down of a night time.

A final word of thanks to the very excellent ladies and gents at Orchard for sending this copy to Bookbag for review.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Little Mouse by Alison Murray at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Little Mouse by Alison Murray at Amazon.com.

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