The Orphan and the Mouse
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2.0 • 1 Rating
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Mary mouse is a skilled thief of useful human items. At the Cherry Street Children's Home, the entire mouse community admires her . . .until a mission goes wrong and an exterminator is called. Suddenly Mary is in grave danger of being exiled. Ten-year-old Caro McKay also resides at Cherry Street. Helpful, likable, and smart, she is a model orphan . . .until her curiosity gets her into trouble. When mouse and orphan meet, they cannot fully communicate with each other, yet they feel an understanding. They will each discover that this unusual friendship is absolutely vital as they try to hold on to the lives they know. Set in 1949 and taking inspiration from E. B. White's Stuart Little, this heartwarming and exciting novel reads like a classic.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Freeman (the First Kids Mystery series) intertwines the stories of a mouse colony and the orphanage where it resides in 1949 Philadelphia in a pleasurably old-fashioned tale with two strong heroines: 11-year-old orphan Caro, who has a disfigured hand, and widowed mouse Mary, sentenced to stay behind when the colony decamps for fear of extermination. Mary and Caro's lives first intersect when Caro saves the mouse from the resident cat and continue to merge as the possibility of shady goings-on at the orphanage grows stronger. Is the seemingly virtuous headmistress involved in kidnapping and baby trafficking? It's occasionally difficult to keep track of the large number of adults, some operating on the wrong side of the law, but Freeman brings the various characters and threads together in a satisfying climax and resolution. E.B. White's Stuart Little is an inspiration to both mice and orphans; Aesop's fable about the mouse and the lion is also invoked when Caro points out to another orphan, "I'm saying I helped the mouse, and now it wants to help me." McPhail's b&w drawings create a suitably shadowy ambiance. Ages 8 12.
Customer Reviews
Not a big fan
I started to read this book, but stopped fairly quickly. I didn't think the author specified real well who was talking in the book, and it was really boring. I guess it is probably a good book, but it didn't do much for me.