Love, Mouserella

June 20, 2011
When Mouserella's mother suggests that she write a letter to her grandmouse, the result is a diary-style story filled with Mouserella's scrawled crayon drawings and Stein's paintings of Polaroid-style photos that the young mouse has purportedly taken. Mouserella's love of Grandmouse, who lives out in the country, is evident as she describes visiting a museum and a zoo, teaching her ladybug to fetch, and creating a huge (but short-lived) wall of blocks to separate her side of the room from her brother, Ernie's. Mouserella's ebullience comes through on every page: "I don't know what to write," she writes, proceeding to doodle flowers instead. She even includes a small gift (a ketchup packet from the museum cafeteria) with the admonition "P.S. don't squash this letter or you'll break the pack of ketchup." Mouserella's delightfully precocious letterâwhich unfolds calendar-style, allowing Stein (Interrupting Chicken) to make the most of the faux lined-stationery backgroundâis probably best suited for children with the skills to craft letters of their own. After this exercise in joyful self-expression, they'll certainly want to. Ages 3â5.

September 1, 2012

PreS-Gr 1-Mouserella's letter to her Grandmouse describes her days with the meandering topics of a child, occasionally concluding "and that's all...but" as she continues with descriptions of her daily activities. Listeners learn about her pet caterpillar and the ladybug she has taught to fetch, a visit to the zoo with a scary cat, a blackout, and how to make shadow bunnies. They will want to scrutinize Mouserella's drawings, pictures from her new camera, and illustrations of the events she describes as they follow along with the book. Author David Ezra Stein has also illustrated this terrific book (Penguin/Nancy Paulsen Books, 2011), creating illustrations with watercolors, stencils, and water-soluble crayons that perfectly reflect a young child's artwork, down to the doodled end pages and ice-pop splotches. The conversational pace of the narration by Michele O. Medlin makes the hand-printed text with its multicolored and occasionally all capital lettering easy to follow. She skillfully captures a child's intonation. Page-turn signals are optional. The limited vocabulary, engaging illustrations, and childish sensibilities allow this to work as an early reader. Paired with the book, it may also inspire children to write letters to family and friends.-Janet S. Thompson, Chicago Public Library, IL

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.