Review of Olivia and the Fairy Princess

Animal Characters, Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Olivia and the Fairy Princesses

by Ian Falconer

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York, 2012. 36 pages.
Starred Review

Dare I say it? I hadn’t yet been won over into an Olivia fan. But when I read Olivia and the Fairy Princesses, something hit me, and I like this pig. This is no Eloise knock-off celebrating being naughty. This is a little girl pig with style and originality.

Olivia is depressed. She explains to her parents:

“That’s the problem,” said Olivia. “All the girls want to be princesses.”

“At Pippa’s birthday party, they were all dressed in big, pink ruffly skirts with sparkles and little crowns and sparkly wands. Including some of the boys.

“I chose a simple French sailor shirt, matador pants, black flats, a strand of pearls, sunglasses, a red bag, and my gardening hat.”

She has some perfectly legitimate questions:

“Why is it always a pink princess? Why not an Indian princess or a princess from Thailand or an African princess or a princess from China?

“There are alternatives.”

I love Olivia’s solution on Halloween. Everyone else dressed as a princess. She dressed as a warthog. “It was very effective.”

Olivia’s eventual decision of what she’d like to be is the perfect capstone.

Part of what makes this book so much fun are some throwaway lines and images. For example, there’s an extra pig in the mirror who’s not in the classroom. I like the busy family page, with the dog bringing a ball to Olivia. Then there’s Olivia struggling with her outfit, mirroring the modern art hanging in her room. But my favorite is, superimposed on an image of Versailles, Olivia saying, “Or I could be a reporter and expose corporate malfeasance.”

This book simply made me laugh. While at the same time making a valid point. And Olivia’s most interesting logic is the perfect touchstone for some interesting conversations with little girls, and some boys, all across the world.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Charlotte’s Web, by E. B. White

Animal Characters, Audiobooks, Award Winners, Children's Fiction Review, Classics, Contemporary, Fantasy, Starred Review, Top 100 Writers and Illustrators 0

Charlotte’s Web

by E. B. White
read by the Author

Listening Library, 2002. Written in 1952. Recorded in 1970. 3 compact discs.
Starred Review
1953 Newbery Honor Book
1970 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award

Charlotte’s Web has twice been voted the #1 Children’s Chapter Book of all time by librarians and parents voting in Betsy Bird‘s School Library Journal Top 100 Chapter Books Poll. In fact, it was reading Betsy’s post that I learned that there is an audio with E. B. White reading the book. I immediately checked if our library had that version and happily took it home.

It’s been many years since I’ve read this practically perfect book. My third grade teacher read it to me the first time. Later, I read it to my sons. And my older son watched the Hanna-Barbara animated version over and over again. As I listened to the audiobook, I realized that the many lines I had memorized were the ones that were used in the film. And they did keep many, many of the great lines. (Like the starting and ending lines. Like Charlotte’s salutation.) But I’d forgotten a lot of the side scenes that didn’t make it to the film.

There are so many scenes simply of life in the barn. Swinging on the rope swing. Wilbur escaping his pen right at the beginning. How it felt to have slops poured on top of Wilbur or to roll in the warm manure. The book is truly a paean to life in the barn.

Now at the beginning, I didn’t feel E. B. White measured up to the actors and especially actresses I remembered reciting the lines in my head. But his voice grew on me, and it’s a good, down-to-earth voice for this story. You can hear in his voice his love for the quiet life of the barn. It’s truly a treasure to still be able to listen to him telling his masterpiece of a story.

Now, there’s no need to critique this classic. I was surprised to find little quibbles. What happens to Fern when the whole spider plot happens. Isn’t she in on it? But it’s Charlotte’s Web! The book is genius, and it works. And you can listen to it read by E. B. White himself.

listeninglibrary.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library audiobook from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Penny and Her Marble, by Kevin Henkes

Animal Characters, Beginning Chapter Books, Picture Book Review 0

Penny and Her Marble

by Kevin Henkes

Greenwillow Books, 2013. 48 pages.

Hooray! Another Penny book for beginning readers! In fact, this book, with four chapters, assumes a progression in reading skills. We have Penny pushing her doll in a stroller — the same doll she received and named in Penny and Her Doll.

Penny finds a marble in Mrs. Goodwin’s yard. She picks it up and keeps it. It’s a beautiful marble, as blue as a piece of the sky.

But Penny is eaten up with guilt. Will Mrs. Goodwin be angry with her for taking the marble?

All ends happily. Spoiler alert: Mrs. Goodwin put the marble on her lawn, hoping Penny would find it and take it.

I didn’t like this story nearly as well as the others. In fact, it made me mad at Mrs. Goodwin. Why didn’t she give the marble to Penny in the first place, for heaven’s sake? All that agony of guilt was completely unnecessary and what kind of adult would give a marble to a child by placing it in her lawn anyway?

But aside from that annoyance with the storyline, this book has the same charmingly realistic child behavior. Kevin Henkes never says Penny feels guilty. Instead he tells that she looks around before she puts the marble in her pocket, races home, goes in her room and shuts the door, and hides behind the curtain when she sees Mrs. Goodwin in her yard. Penny isn’t hungry and even dreams about Mrs. Goodwin and the marble that night.

Fortunately, Penny decides to make things right before Mrs. Goodwin makes the speech she should have made in the first place. But it’s all told in a simple story that gives new readers plenty of repeated words and visual clues.

KevinHenkes.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Chloe, by Peter McCarty

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Chloe

by Peter McCarty

Balzer + Bray, 2012. 36 pages.
Starred Review

Hooray! Another big family picture book! Chloe is the middle child in her family of rabbits. She has ten older brothers and sisters and ten younger brothers and sisters. And, more realistically than in Another Brother, even though they are rabbits, Chloe’s siblings are pictured as different sizes and different ages.

But this isn’t a story about having too many siblings. This is a story about having fun.

Chloe loved the end of the day, when her whole family was together. She called it family fun time.

But her father brings home a new television. When the whole family except Chloe and little Bridget watch TV, Chloe thinks it’s the worst family fun time ever.

But then Bridget finds the bubble wrap. . . .

Pop! Pap! Thip! Bip! Pop!

This is a simple story, about how doing simple things together can be the most fun at all. Peter McCarty’s wonderful illustrations are what make this a stand-out. Even though there are 21 siblings and two parents, each rabbit is portrayed as an individual. I love the way little Bridget imitates Chloe’s gestures and expressions. I love the way the character on TV looks over at Chloe and her brothers and sisters having fun. I love the way Dad stays up popping bubble wrap after everyone’s in bed, and I love the way the baby in the crib is the only child not asleep.

I complain sometimes (a little tongue-in-cheek) that with all the quest for diversity in children’s literature, big families simply aren’t well-represented. Well, here’s a picture book where the big family isn’t the point, isn’t held up as strange. The big family is what it is. This is a simple story about having fun.

[I also love that it’s a book that celebrates the fun of popping bubble wrap. Did you know those bubbles are called utricles? It was featured on my 365 Words a Year calendar one day when I was in college, and my officemate and I used to gloat over any opportunity to pop utricles.]

petermccarty.net
harpercollinschildrens.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Pip’s Trip, by Janet Morgan Stoeke

Animal Characters, Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Pip’s Trip

by Janet Morgan Stoeke

Dial Books for Young Readers, 2012. 32 pages.
Starred Review

Janet Morgan Stoeke is coming to our library! (That’s the City of Fairfax Regional Library on Monday, May 13, 2013 at 3:30!) I’m excited because I remember discovering her books when I first worked in a library back at Sembach Air Force Base. Her Minerva Louise books are perfect for preschoolers who enjoy someone sillier than they are.

Her recent book, Pip’s Trip, features more silly chickens, the three hens from The Loopy Coop Hens, Midge, Dot, and Pip.

Pip’s Trip is written as an easy reader, with simple vocabulary and short sentences. There are even seven very short chapters to give a child a sense of accomplishment. The format is still the large one of a picture book, which is all the better for storytime.

Midge, Dot, and Pip see the farm truck, and Pip notices there’s plenty of room in the back for them. Pip talks them into going for a ride, but after she gets in, Dot and Midge decide they should ask Rooster Sam first. So Pip is alone in the back of the truck.

We can see from the pictures that the driver has the hood of the truck up and is working on the engine. Pip, in the back of the truck, is very alarmed:

”Oh, no! It is getting loud.
This is bad.
I don’t want to see the wide world!
Oh, no! Oh, no! Oh, no!”
Pip shuts her eyes.

When Pip peeks out, “the wide world looks just like Loopy Coop Farm!”

Pip’s friends set her straight when Pip talks about the ride she went on. But they all agree that she was very brave.

This is another fun story where preschoolers can enjoy someone who is far less wise in the ways of the world than they are. And with repetition, simple structure, and lots of one-syllable words, they’ll be reading it themselves before you know it.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of The Adventures of Nanny Piggins, by R. A. Spratt

Animal Characters, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Humorous, Starred Review 0

The Adventures of Nanny Piggins

by R. A. Spratt
illustrated by Dan Santat

Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2010. First published in Australia in 2009. 239 pages.
Starred Review

Move over Mary Poppins! Nanny Piggins is not a nanny who teaches her charges valuable lessons. In fact, the Disclaimer at the front warns you of things to come:

You are about to read a wonderful book. Nanny Piggins is the most amazing pig ever. It has been a privilege to write about her. But before you begin I must (because the publisher has forced me) give you one small warning. . .

Unless you are a pig, do not copy Nanny Piggins’s diet IN ANY WAY.

You see, pigs and humans have very different bodies. Pigs are a different shape (mainly because they eat so much). Plus, Nanny Piggins is an elite athlete so she has a freakishly fast metabolism that can burn a lot of calories.

So please, for the good of your own health, do not try to eat like Nanny Piggins. There is no doubt that chocolate, cake, cookies, tarts, chocolate milk, sticky cream buns, candy, ice cream, lollipops, sherbet lemons, and chocolate chip pancakes are all delicious, but that does not mean you should eat them seven or eight times a day.

Also, you really must eat vegetables, no matter what Nanny Piggins might say to the contrary, or you will get sick.

Yours sincerely,
R. A. Spratt, the author

P.S. The publisher also wants me to mention that you really should not try a lot of the things Nanny Piggins does either. For example, throwing heavy things off roofs. Firstly, because you might give yourself a hernia lugging it up there. But mainly, because if it landed on someone that would be terrible. So please do not copy Nanny Piggins’s behavior (unless you are under the close supervision of a responsible adult pig with advanced circus training).

Yes, Nanny Piggins is a pig. A pig who has left the circus, where she was a flying pig shot out of a cannon. Mr. Green hires her to watch his children because she only charges ten cents an hour. Yes, Nanny Piggins’s behavior is completely outrageous — and therefore tremendous fun to read about. Sensitive parents who aren’t sure their children would fully understand why they do not apply Nanny Piggins’s methods might find this book would make an excellent family read-aloud. (Then the parents can include wise instruction as to why such behavior is not advisable. They can also enjoy the fun along with their kids.)

Here’s an example that made me laugh, from when Mr. Green gives Nanny Piggins money to buy uniforms:

Happily, as it turned out, Nanny Piggins’s idea of a good investment was to buy four tickets to an amusement park. The children had the most wonderful day. They went on all sorts of terrifying rides. On some they were flung high into the air until they were convinced they were going to die. And on others they were spun around and around until they were utterly sick.

In fact, Michael was sick. Fortunately the ride was going at full speed at the time, and the vomit flew cleanly out of his mouth and into the face of the person behind him. So Nanny Piggins did not have to trouble herself with cleaning up his clothes.

“Well done, Michael,” Nanny Piggins complimented him. “With aim like that you could get a job at the circus.”

Here’s the way Chapter Four opens:

It was seven o’clock at night, and Nanny Piggins and the children were happily crouched on the floor of the cellar, holding a cockroach race, when they heard the distinctive harrumph sound of a throat being cleared behind them.

Now, one of the first things Nanny Piggins had taught the children was what to do if someone walks in on you when you are doing something bad. So the children did exactly as they had been trained — they stayed absolutely still and did not say a word, completely ignoring the four cockroaches as they scattered across the floor in front of them. Nanny Piggins made a mental note to recatch hers later because it was a big one with long legs and it would be a shame to let it run wild. Apart from making excellent racers, cockroaches can be tremendously handy for shocking hygenic people and clearing long lines at the deli.

As the author warns us repeatedly, Do not try this at home! But you can certainly enjoy reading about it at home. And if you won’t feed your kids junk food at every meal, where’s the harm in letting them fantasize about a nanny who does? This book is full of silly, over-the-top, good-hearted fun.

raspratt.com
dantat.com
lb-kids.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/nanny_piggins.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Oh, No! by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Readalouds, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

Oh, No!

Words by Candace Fleming
Pictures by Eric Rohmann

Schwartz & Wade Books (Random House), New York, 2012. 36 pages.
Starred Review
2012 Sonderbooks Stand-out #9 Picture Books

This book charmed me from the moment I saw it. I simply had to read it aloud. The story can be sung to the tune of “Froggie Went a-Courtin’,” with a few adjustments. In place of “Uh-huh,” you’ve got a refrain of “Oh No!” in very appropriate spots at the end of each verse, and other fun sound effects earlier in the verses.

The story is simple: Several animals fall into a hole, and can’t get out, and it looks like Tiger will eat them. When each animal falls in, we have appropriate sound effects: “Ribbit-oops!” for frog; “Pippa-eek!” for mouse; “Soo-slooow!” for loris; “Grab on!” for sun bear (bending down a branch); and “Wheee-haaaa!” for monkey. When tiger comes to taunt them, anticipating his dinner, it’s “Slop-slurp!”

But someone bigger than Tiger comes along to help, the tables are turned, and no one gets eaten. Will the animals help Tiger out of the trap? “Oh, no!”

Caldecott winner Eric Rohmann has outdone himself with the beauty of these illustrations. The book has so many elements great for a storytime picture book: A catchy tune or rhythm (if you don’t want to sing it), fun sounds, repetitive and progressive story line with nice twists, animals they might not have known, and a turn-about story that will appeal to their sense of justice.

Now, there are some places where the exact tune has to be adjusted a bit. Personally, I found I was not capable of reading it straight, without putting it to the tune. Others may have better luck! But either way, this book begs to be read or sung aloud, and you will definitely want to share it with a child.

candacefleming.com
ericrohmann.com
randomhouse.com/kids

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of This Is Not My Hat, by Jon Klassen

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

This Is Not My Hat

by Jon Klassen

Candlewick Press, 2012. 36 pages.
Starred Review
2012 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #4 Picture Books

What is it with Jon Klassen and stealing hats? This Is Not My Hat is remarkably similar to his last year’s book, I Want My Hat Back (which was also my #4 Picture Books Stand-out), while having completely different characters, a completely different setting, and even a very different hat! But as in the earlier book, justice is dramatic, swift and sure while at the same time off stage and mysterious, but highly satisfying. (Alas! Perhaps I’m more bloodthirsty than I realized.) And in both the occasion of said justice — stealing a hat — is a wonderful child-sized problem perfect for discussion.

Here are some ways the two books are similar:

1. A hat is stolen.
2. The victim of the hat theft is outraged and angry (as evidenced by their wide eyes).
3. The thief is much smaller than the one they stole from.
4. The thief is doing some lying, whether to others or merely to himself.
4. The illustrations are fabulous, with deadpan expressions and highly expressive eyes.
5. Both leave a delightful amount of room for children to draw their own conclusions, but I can let you in on a spoiler: The thief gets eaten. (That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.)

In this one, the book begins with the thief fleeing the scene of the crime. He admits he stole the hat, but the big fish he stole it from was asleep and probably won’t wake up for a long time or even notice that it’s gone. As he says this, we see pictures of the big fish waking up and then noticing the hat is gone. The little fish has a plan — to go where the plants grow big and tall and close together where nobody will ever find him. Well, he does get there, with the big fish right behind. You definitely can’t see what happens inside those plants — but let’s just say it doesn’t look good for the little fish.

I love the page with the thief’s rationalization (What a way to discuss Rationalization with children!):

I know it’s wrong to steal a hat.
I know it does not belong to me.
But I am going to keep it.
It was too small for him anyway.
It fits me just right.

And you know what? He’s right! The hat does fit him just right, and is way too small with the big fish. But I still think this would make a great pairing with The Book of Bad Ideas! And what a fabulous way to discuss Right and Wrong with kids. Or, just to read a tremendously fun story, where drama and art and plot are all beautifully balanced with a delightful result. I guess there’s a little kid who enjoys justice inside all of us. Or at least a person who enjoys a good story.

candlewick.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of One Dog and His Boy, by Eva Ibbotson

Animal Characters, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary 0

One Dog and His Boy

by Eva Ibbotson

Scholastic Press, New York, 282 pages.

This book could have been named, A Poor Little Rich Boy and his Adventures with Five Dogs, but the actual title does tell you about the central story of one boy finding the dog who’s right for him, and that dog finding the boy.

The book begins with the boy:

All Hal had ever wanted was a dog.

He had wanted one for his last birthday and for the birthday before, and for Christmas, and now that his birthday was coming around again he wanted one more desperately than ever. He had read about dogs and dreamed about dogs; he knew how to feed them and how to train them. But whenever he asked his mother for a dog she told him not to be silly.

“How could we have a dog? Think of the mess — hairs on the carpet and scratch marks on the door, and the smell. . . . Not to mention puddles on the floor,” said Albina Fenton, and shuddered.

And when Hal said that he would see to it that it didn’t smell and would take it out again and again so that it didn’t make puddles, she looked hurt.

“You have such a beautiful home,” she told her son, “I would have thought you would be grateful.”

This was true in a way. Hal’s parents were rich; they lived in a large modern house in the suburbs with carpets so thick that your feet sank right into them and silk curtains that swept to the floor. There were three new cars in the garage — one for Albina, one for her husband, and one for the maid to use when she took Hal to school — and five bathrooms with gold taps and power showers, and a sauna. In the kitchen every kind of gadget hummed and buzzed — squeezers and coffeemakers and extractors — and the patio was tiled with marble brought in specially from Italy.

But in the whole of the house there was nothing that was alive. Not the smallest beetle, not the frailest spider, not the shyest mouse — Albina Fenton and the maids who came and went saw to that. And in the garden there were no flowers — only raked gravel — because flowers mean earth and mess.

When Hal persists in asking for a dog, his father gets a bright idea. He will rent a dog from Easy Pets for the weekend. After all, “By the time the dog has to go back, Hal will be tired of him — you know how quickly children get bored with the things you give them. He only played with that indoor space projector we got him for Christmas for a couple of days and it cost the earth.”

Well, you can imagine how well it goes over when Albina has to bring the dog back. (Hal’s father was so conveniently scheduled to leave on another trip before Easy Pets opened.)

Hal ends up running away with his dog, heading to his grandparents, who live in the north of England. But he ends up traveling with a girl whose sister worked at Easy Pets and four other dogs who also were not where they belonged.

The story includes lots of coincidences, but it’s sweet and happy and funny. Spoiler alert: All the dogs end up where they should be, but the process is reminiscent of the great adventure in Dodie Smith’s The 101 Dalmatians.

Here’s a story of great love between a dog and a boy, and best of all, no dogs are harmed in this story! Here’s a dog story that doesn’t end in tears, but with lots of smiles. Okay, maybe it’s not the likeliest of stories, but it’s a fun read.

scholastic.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on an Advance Reader Copy I got at an ALA conference.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, retold and illustrated by Helen Ward

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

An Aesop Fable retold and illustrated by Helen Ward

Templar Books (Candlewick Press), 2012. Illustrations copyright 2011. 44 pages.
Starred Review

Here’s the familiar Aesop Fable, told with lavishly beautiful illustrations. There are also few enough words on each beautiful spread to make this a hit for storytime. (Why is it that sometimes the more beautiful the illustrations, the more words on a page? Not a problem here.)

I like the way Helen Ward contrasts the City Mouse’s words with pictures of the country. For example, the first page where the City Mouse is telling the Country Mouse about his home has these words:

“In the city, we don’t have mud,” he said.
“And we don’t have dangerous wild animals.”

The picture on that spread is of a baby fawn curled up asleep in the grass.

The next page says,

“In the city, we dine on rich, exotic foods in sumptuous surroundings.”

The picture that goes with those words is of the two mice in a beautiful orchard eating wild berries.

Helen Ward has the mice come to the city along with a Christmas tree and the feast is a Christmas celebration, so you can use this for Christmas, but there’s nothing about it in the text, so you can also use it any time of year.

The moral is not spelled out, but I think it will be easy even for the youngest listeners to understand and talk about.

This book is a feast for the eyes, along with a story that never grows old.

candlewick.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/town_mouse_and_country_mouse.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.