Monday, July 16, 2007

Literary Mice - book list

As anyone who has been reading this blog from the first post knows, I've been fond of mice all my life. Today, while I was at work (but clearly not thinking about work or really even doing any work, let's be honest), I started wondering how many books I have with mice in them. Obviously, there's my newest acquisition, Mouse Guard Fall 1152. But how many others? My parameters are broad: any book for children or adults, picture book, graphic novel or prose novel, with mice as the subject matter or, at the very least, having a mouse as a fairly major character.

Most folks my age probably have one or two at the most. I have eleven:
  • The aforementioned Mouse Guard Fall 1152 by David Petersen
  • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll [Dormouse]
  • Maus by Art Speigelman [1986, graphic novel about Holocaust survivors with mice as the Jews and cats as the Nazis]
  • Is There a Mouse in the House? by Josephine Gibson [1965, rhyming book]
  • She Was Nice to Mice by Ally Sheedy, age 12 [1975, before Sheedy got into acting she wrote this biography of Queen Elizabeth I who was apparently nice to mice]
  • The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse, The Tale of Two Bad Mice and The Tailor of Gloucester, all by Beatrix Potter [separate books]
  • Pippa Mouse by Betty Boegelhold [1973, children's book]
  • Julius, Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes [1990, children's book about introducing a new baby into the family, starring anthropomorphic mice]
  • The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame [the Water Rat ... he counts]

That's an impressive list, if I do say so myself - but I am always ready to buy new books. If anyone has other mouse-centric literature suggestions, I am eager to hear them!

13 comments:

  1. how about "Maus" & "Maus 2"?
    Nice to see someone reading Roberston Davies! He is definitely one of the most beloved and cleverest of Can Lit....

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  2. Hi, Dana - thanks for commenting: you win the prize for being my first non-family, non-friend commenter!!

    Maus is on my list - I've had it for years, long before I ever realized graphic novels were actually a form of literature.

    I truly think Robertson Davies was a genius. I wish more people would read him.

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  3. Often read to my own children a nauseating amount of times, so this is sort of for the younger set:
    If You give a Mouse a Cookie (which was often followed by If You Give a Moose a Muffin)
    Town Mouse, Country Mouse
    and
    The Mouse and the Motorcycle.
    And tho not in the title, there is always Stewart Little

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  4. Fantastic titles, polyester - I have a little niece whose library I'm working on building. And how could I have forgotten Stuart Little? [smacks head with palm repeatedly]

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  5. am listening to Tales of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by kate Decamillo. It won the Newbery award a few years ago. Have you read it? I'm working my way through the list of Newbery books but, after reading some really early ones (it goes back to 1922) I think I will concentrate on the last 30 years or so first.

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  6. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (a.k.a. The Secret of NIMH), one of my favorite books as a kid. The movie doesn't do the story justice. The main character is a field mouse who seeks help from some rats to save her family. Almost all of the characters are mice and rats.

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  7. Oh my goodness - Mrs. Frisby! Of course! Boy, was that a LONG time ago that I read that. I loved it - thanks for reminding me of it!

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  8. Basil of Baker Street , The Rescuers
    old English books but they should count

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  9. What about Redwall? ?? Martain the Warrior is a mouse

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  10. Nice - thanks for the additions. I don't think I've read any of those. Old English books count for sure!

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  11. I agree with other Anonymous. redwall is definitely a good series with Mice as heros! I love that series!!

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  12. Have you tried the Deptford Mice? It's been a while since I read them, but I remember them being very good.

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