Mary and the Mouse, the Mouse and Mary by Beverly Donofrio, Barbara McClintock (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

MARY LIVED IN A BIG HOUSE with a very little mouse. The mouse lived in a little house inside of a very big house, with Mary.

Even though Mary has been warned to stay away from mice - and Mouse has been warned to steer clear of people - the two can't help but peek at one another. Side by side, they grow up, go to college, get married, and have children of their own - Maria and MouseMouse. And then one day, Maria and MouseMouse do something surprising . . . something their parents never did. They actually come nose-to-nose and speak to one another!

Publishers Weekly

Admirers of The Borrowersand The Tale of Two Bad Micewill smile at this beguiling comparison of human- and mouse-scale worlds, Donofrio's (Riding in Cars with Boys) children's debut. Mary, a midcentury child who favors flouncy skirts, lives with parents and siblings. In the same house, behind a wall, lives a mouse who "had a mother and a father and a sister and a brother, too." Mary learns to beware of mice; the mouse, of people. "So Mary didn't tell her family about the mouse. And the mouse didn't tell about Mary." Nonetheless, Mary often steals a glimpse inside the mousehole to exchange a wave with her friend. With an antique palette and an engraver's fluid line, McClintock (Adèle & Simon) designs ingenious accessories for the anthropomorphic mice. When a newly hippie-ish Mary leaves for college in a VW Beetle, the mouse packs her things in a walnut shell. Mary's dorm room matches the mouse's underground home, down to the green bedspread, yellow sheets and overflowing hamper; Mary's striped pink rug looks just like the pink sock by the mouse's bed. Eventually Mary raises her own children in a modern, glass-walled house, and her daughter, Maria, meets the mouse's child. True, Donofrio and McClintock indulge in nostalgia and pay no heed to rodents' life expectancy. Yet only a jaded reader could fail to be bewitched by McClintock's meticulous panels or her piquant cover art, with its swingy hand-lettering and swaying heroines. Donofrio and McClintock give exquisite attention to the girl's and mouse's parallel lives, emphasizing cross-generational connections and shared secrets. Ages 3-7. (Aug.)

Children's Literature

Mary lives in a large house; a small mouse lives in a little house inside Mary's. They live similar lives with their families; they go to school but different schools. One night after dinner, Mary drops a fork, the mouse drops a spoon, and although they have been warned about the danger of contact, they wave at each other and continue to every night. When Mary and the mouse grow up and move away, they miss each other, but amazingly, Mary becomes a mother living in a big house where the mouse also lives with her child. Mary's daughter Maria and mouse's daughter Mouse also live similar lives. One night, magically, they discover each other just as their mothers had and dare to meet. These fantasies appear more potent visualized naturalistically in pen and ink, watercolors, and gouache. Opposing pages portray parallel worlds: the suburban reality in all its details and the mouse's world similar in many ways but scaled down to mouse size. Both worlds are peaceful and apparently happy. Final tension is built in a six-page sequence where the youngsters make the effort to meet at last. All the characters are full of charm.

Kirkus Reviews

"Mary lived in a big house with a very little mouse." And sure enough, the twain does meet. Captivating illustrations chronicle the parallel lives of Mary and the mouse as they grow up. They discover each other one day after dinner when Mary drops a fork and the mouse drops a spoon at the same time and they spot each other through the mouse hole. Every night from then on, they drop a utensil and wave to each other. Both girls grow up and move out and have daughters-who meet and share a similar friendship. The story by itself is understated and quiet, but the delight is in the details of the side-by-side and top-to-bottom panels: The mouse's clothes emulate Mary's; a human watch on a mouse wall becomes their clock and stools are made of thread spools. An ample-sized format allows McClintock's fine-lined art to invigorate each bifurcated scene and embellish the miniature appeal of The Borrowers and the fashions of the decades from the 1950s into the hippie years. Cleverly designed, inventively enacted and charming from fork to finish. (Picture book. 4-8)

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