"A House for a Mouse" by Gabby Dawnay and Alex Barrow is such a beautiful looking book right from the outset, with a gorgeous faux-Tolkein-esque cover (not to mention a rather splendid Middle-Earth-Like map inside too!)
It's the story of a little grey mouse who leaves his tiny hole in the forest to explore the wider world.
On his search for a new home he unwittingly encounters some of the biggest stars in the fairytale genre.
He discovers a house shaped like a shoe (belonging to Old Mother Hubbard); he takes tea with a little pig in a house made of straw (awfully breezy); is flummoxed by a tower with no door (Rapunzel’s); and dares to take a nibble from a most remarkable house made of gingerbread (narrowly missing Hansel and Gretel).
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| Hat tip and chef's kiss to Alex Barrow for this utterly gorgeous Tolkein-esque map |
The little grey mouse is about to give up his search for a new home when he comes face to face with the most spectacular house of all: a glorious, towering castle (Sleeping Beauty’s).
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| Does anyone have a carpet-sized odour eater? |
Its ballrooms, turrets and drawbridge win him over, and he moves in immediately. But the little grey mouse feels terribly alone in his roomy new digs – until there is a knock at the door. His friends from the forest, and all those he has met on his journey, descend on the castle. Their feasting and dancing are so happy and lively that they even wake Sleeping Beauty, leading the little grey mouse to conclude that it is family and friends that turn a house into a home.
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| Such an adorable central character! |
We love how the lesson in this book is folded neatly into such an engaging and appealing central story, utterly beautifully illustrated and full of charm.
"A House for a Mouse" by Gabby Dawnay and Alex Barrow is out now, published by Thames and Hudson (kindly supplied for review)