Bless This Mouse (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Bless This Mouse Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor Lowry, Lois. Bless This Mouse; illus. by Eric Rohmann. Houghton, 2011. [160p]. ISBN 978-0-547-39009-3 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 3–5. For the most part, St. Bartholomew’s Church has been the ideal residence for Mouse Mistress Hildegarde and her clan of 219 mice: there’s a nice heated furnace to keep them warm, crumbs from communion wafers and morning doughnuts to keep them fed, and, of course, a weekly mass to keep them pious. But the feast of St. Francis is fast approaching, and if it rains, that means those cat owners attending the Ceremony of the Blessing of the Animals will be bringing their cats inside. To make matters worse, a few irresponsible mouselings got themselves spotted by several parishioners and now Father Murphy is calling in the Great X (i.e., extermination). As the Mouse Mistress, Hildegarde must lead her people—er, mice—out of danger, even if that means going into the Outdoors. Despite allusions to the Bible and Christian masses, this is mostly a nondenominational tale about a feisty little mouse determined to serve her fellow mice and perhaps gets some divine recognition while doing so. Like Lowry’s recent Birthday Ball (BCCB 6/10), this is an early chapter book, but here the author forgoes the former’s mischievous wit in lieu of gentle, direct prose with occasional bits of humor. Young readers will delight in Hildegarde’s subversion of authority, both in her boldly assertive attitude and her ultimate reclamation of the church. Cat lovers may want to look elsewhere, but fans of animal tales will likely find something to enjoy in this clever but cuddly tale. Final illustrations not seen. Copyright © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois