The Diary of a Church Mouse

From School Library Journal Grade 2-4 Resolving on New Year's to write the Story of His Life, Humphrey the schoolmouse decides instead to keep a diary. (His friend Arthur advises waiting on the autobiography until Humphrey is very old so he'll know what happens in the last chapter.) Against the backdrop of changing seasons and holidays, readers follow a year's adventures of the mice and their cat-friend, Sampson. This ninth title about the church mice sports the familiar full-page and numerous smaller illustrations, which both amplify and deliberately contradict the text (to enormous comic effect). The energy and busy activity of the illustrations, which are lavishly detailed, call for close and repeated examination; many tiny dramas are going on within the larger context of the story. The long text and sophisticated level of humor based on Humphrey's self-aggrandizement recommend this for sharing with older children. Susan H. Patron, Los Angeles Public LibraryCopyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.