The Tiny Mouse
by Janis Ian with illustrations by Ingrid and Dieter Schubert
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You can order from The Tiny Mouse's own local store, Parnassus Books of Nashville or from your own independent bookseller.
If you order from Parnassus you can get, for a limited time, a copy autographed by Janis Ian!
The Dutch version can be ordered from Palatino.
The Tiny Mouse follows the adventures of a bored mouse who decides to go to sea and narrowly escapes a grisly death. In his moment of truth, he understands that it's better to be a whole mouse at home than someone's dinner at sea. This book and CD set has not only Janis Ian singing "The Tiny Mouse" with a full band but also a version without vocals for singalong fun. A complete transcription for piano and guitar is also included. Ingrid and Dieter Schubert, creators of The Umbrella and many other picture books, give the tiny mouse his dapper and affable appearance and bring his perilous adventures to life with plenty of sly humor.
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"A little whimsy, a little darkness, a little music for a song turned into a picture book by veteran singer/songwriter Ian.
"The tiny—and quite dapper—mouse of the title lives in a house “full of drafts and doubts, and incredible things.” Incredible things notwithstanding, he is restless and wants to go to sea. He is ill-prepared, however, and gets seasick at once. In his search for a bathroom, he discovers that the captain of the vessel he has stowed away upon is a cat! He, er, high-tails it out of there with help from a flounder, marries his “mouseketeer” and regales his dozens of children with his adventures. The Schuberts’ illustrations are brightly colored and often surreal, from the cat-in-the-box jack-in-the-box to the mer-cat figurehead on the ship’s prow, the mouse-snacks in the captain’s quarters (all with their tails attached—eewww!) to our hero coughing up “seven oysters and a clam.” Both words and music are appended, and a CD is included with three versions: vocal with band (that includes quite a wonderful clarinet), a band-only karaoke version and vocal with guitar. It is a rollicking little number—a little piratical, a little klezmer—and once heard, it is impossible to read the tale without singing it.
"A thoroughgoing success from these trans-Atlantic collaborators. (Picture book. 4-8)"
- Kirkus Reviews
