ENORMOUSE
Author and Illustrator: Angie Morgan
Buy – Enormouse
A heart warming story about finding your place, being accepted and the importance of friends.
Enormouse is well loved by the other mice and valued for his difference…he is ENORMOUS!
No one knows why, no one cares. However his world is turned upside down when he and his best friend Tinymouse find a book which suggests that he is not a mouse at all, he’s a RAT!
When the other mice find out they laugh at him. Poor Enormouse, his feelings are hurt and he is sad and confused. Perhaps he doesn’t belong in the tidy little mouse house anymore.
The book says rats live near places where there is waste food, so he packs his bag and sets off. He is taken in by a group of friendly rats but is horrified at the mess and stink in their house. He offers to tidy up a bit but the rats only laugh, “Relax! We’re rats. Rats LOVE mess!”
Oh dear, perhaps he doesn’t fit in here either. Meanwhile the seven mice are missing him terribly and feeling very sorry for laughing at him. Bravely they set off to find Enormouse. Will they find him in the big dangerous outside world?
I’ll give you a hint…There are eight friends sharing the warm mouse house and hugs on the final page.
Beautifully laid out and illustrated, this book was a delight to read. Unlike some books which are hard to read in subdued bedtime lighting, the words in Enormouse are in clear fonts and well positioned on lighter sections of the pages.
The pictures incorporate a fun crafty cut-out look. The mice look cosy in little vests which are created using images of real knitted weave. This adds a soft friendly tone to the mice.
Well presented graphically, the inside covers feature little framed and named pictures of each mouse, encouraging fun character identification.
There are a few things in this book that could be worth discussing with children.
You might like to mention that rats are in fact very clean creatures even though they may live in more extreme environments than mice. City rats might choose to live near rubbish but country rats have habitats similar to mice.
I did feel that that rats got a bit of a hard rap, as the book the friends find, says that rats “never say please”..but you know I’ve never heard a mouse say please either. The rats were all quite nice in the book so at least this comment was not played out. As often happens when animal characters are humanised to some extent, odd boundaries between real life facts and storytelling embellishments are created.
I took the book for all it’s positive attributes as I’m not so impressionable these days!
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Book Details
- Paperback: 32 pages
- Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
- Publication Date: Date: 3 October 2013
- Language: English
- ISBN: 978-1-84780-448-8
- Product Dimensions: 27x 25 x 1.2 cm
- Age Range: 3-6 years
“My sister Mary and I were always creating imaginary characters and mimicking real ones, and I used to write shows and choreograph ballets for us. A wind-up gramophone wafted out Chopin waltzes.”
This creativity led to a career in singing and song writing, mainly for children’s television.
Follow the link to find out more out this Author/Illustrator.
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