Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears
by Emily Gravett
Age: 5+
Interests: mice, fears, phobias
Macmillan Publishers: 2007
26 pp.
Also by this author: Wolves, The Rabbit Problem, Meerkat Mail, Monkey and Me, Orange Pear Apple Bear, Spells, The Odd Egg
Related Posts: Emily Gravett’s Drawing Lesson
Armed with a red pencil, Little Mouse sets out to record all of his fears, and there are a lot of them. From fear of birds and loud noises to the fear of having an accident or being flushed down the loo, he is a twitching, pencil-nibbling bundle of nerves. Even so, in the end he is heartened by the fact that a gigantic human would be afraid of him!
An amazing, cleverly designed book, this is a marvel of tool-cut pages (and cover), flaps, maps and foldouts. In collage style it represents a regular book about phobias as “improved” by Little Mouse, who nibbles, tapes, and scrawls his own feelings and fears over every page. This book is more about living with your fears than about vanquishing them, though on the endpapers Little Mouse can be seen napping rather serenely, with a big smile on his face.
Little ones, who have no shortage of fears themselves, will be amused by Little Mouse’s vast array of frights. They may even be intrigued by the proper Latin-named phobias listed at the top of each page. The foldout map of “The Isle of Fright” – featuring Mount Apprehension and the villages of Cowers, Lower Wallop, and Loose Bottom – is particularly hilarious. The youngest readers may not catch every clever reference and pun, but they will love inspecting every torn and folded page. This is a book to be examined closely and enjoyed by every age.
(this title available at amazon.com)
Rarest Kind of Best 