Mouse can't stop! by Beck Blake. Illus. by Shiloh Gordon

Life’s journey can be different for different people, but this book encourages us to stop and smell the daisies, to take time as we journey, to be aware of what is around us, and to make friends.

Mouse and Bear set out to climb the mountain. Mouse can’t wait, he tears ahead, leaving Bear behind. On the mountain they meet a bee who invites them to visit his garden. Bear wants to visit, but not Mouse who keeps humming ahead. In the garden, Bear smells the beautiful flowers, the daisies and daffodils having the most exotic perfume. Bee shows Bear a secret tunnel, allowing him to catch up with Mouse. Ahead they spy a rabbit, who asks them for help to find his lost key. But again, Mouse says he cannot stop and runs ahead. Bear stops and finds the key which opens Rabbit’s house and there he has a wonderful meal with the family.

Next, Bear and Mouse are asked by if they would like to rest under a tree. Mouse of course is in too much of a hurry, while Bear stays and has a rest, good enough to give him enough puff to catch up with Mouse. Once at the top, Mouse is disappointed that the top of the mountain does not match the sign below. He can see nothing amazing. He starts on down, while Bear stays at the top with the birds, the rabbit family and the bee. Bear has had an amazing time and met many new friends.

A lovely story of spending time with others, the characters of Bear and Mouse will amuse readers as they see from the start how different they are, but their actions bring them together at the end.

I love the pages of verse where Mouse gives his reasons for keeping on going. I can imagine the reader and the audience saying these lines with gusto, predict the rhyming words and urging Mouse forward, while Bear stays behind to smell the daisies. Full of humour, the illustrations will delight, as the readers’ eyes follow the events in the text. One frustrated Mouse is seen on many pages, urging his friend forward, while Bear is content to hold the baby rabbits in his arms and talk to the birds and the bees as they fly around his soft, friendly face. The looks on both their faces is a study in opposites, and the readers will laugh with glee as Mouse comes to realise that perhaps the mountain is amazing after all.

Themes: Humour, Friendship.

Fran Knight