The Proverbial Mouse

by Moira Miller, Ian Deuchar (Illustrator)

During his nightly quests for food in a toy shop, a hungry mouse learns a number of proverbs from the toys and eventually devises one himself for the cat that tries to catch him.

Genres: Picture Books

28 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 1987

About the author

Moira Miller (1941-1990) was a Scottish children's author. She was born in Clydebank near Glasgow in January 1941 and grew up in the seaside town of Ayr. Moving to Glasgow, an administrative job with the BBC led to her having short stories broadcast on radio which she then expanded to create her first books. Over the next decade she had a successful and prolific publishing career while visiting schools and libraries throughout Scotland spreading her passion for reading and story telling to a new generation. She died in a road accident in April 1990; her stories did not.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

The eponymous proverbial mouse, living in a toy shop and hungry one night, goes in search of a meal in this picture-book from Scottish author Moira Miller, but finds that the objects which excite his interest are not what they appear. So it is that he mistakes a bowling pin and ball for milk and apple, and a basket of marbles for eggs. The toys in the shop share various proverbs with the mouse, at each mistake. When his antics awaken the shop cat, the mouse himself becomes the focus of attention, and must evade another hungry creature...

Published in 1987, The Proverbial Mouse is the second murine picture-book I have read from Miller, following upon her 1985 Oscar Mouse Finds a Home . It was apparently illustrator Ian Deuchar's debut contribution to the form. All in all, I found it an engaging little book, appreciating the rhythmical, not quite rhyming text, and the colorful, somewhat dark-toned artwork. The mouse hero is proverbial, not just because his adventures lead the toys around him to share their time-worn proverbs and adages, but because a mouse hunting for food in the nighttime, while avoiding his feline foe, can be said to be a proverbial figure. Recommended to fans of this author, whose work I have recently been exploring, and to anyone seeking somewhat vintage picture-books featuring mice.

[Denis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was OK. Nothing really special about it. It is beautifully illustrated and really meant for an adult to read it to a child, as opposed to a child reading it on their own. The concept of being "Proverbial" will get lost on the child. The mouse is hungry and looking for things to eat. He is in a toy shop. He mistakes some small yellow balls that children play with for eggs as an example. So, toys come alive and give the mouse some proverbial words of wisdom like, "Don't count your chickens before they hatch".

I feel that stuff like this would need to be explained to a child. They won't get it. That is why although I think the book is cute, the child reading it on his or her own is going to miss a lot.

The print is also rather small for the young reader to digest, plus...there are no chapters. Which can overwhelm a child.

[Cassi Dick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of fun little sayings and would be good when teaching students phonemic awareness in a k and 1 classroom.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is a bit trite but the artwork makes up for what the text lacks.