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Summary
Summary
When I woke up this morning, I tickled Mousie's tummy. But Mousie didn't wake up.When a child learns that his pet mouse has died, at first he can't believe it. "Mousie is NOT dead!" he insists. "He's just...very...very sleepy this morning." But it takes time for the young narrator to understand that Mousie IS dead and he's not coming back. With the help of his family, the child finds out that it's perfectly okay to feel angry and sad when his pet mouse -- whom he loves -- dies. By voicing his feelings and asking questions, he finally begins to accept Mousie's death. Beautifully told by award-winning author Robie H. Harris and gently illustrated by world-renowned artist Jan Ormerod, Goodbye Mousie is a perfect book with which to help children cope with loss.
Author Notes
Jan Ormerod was born in Australia on September 23, 1946. She attended art school and studied drawing, painting and sculpture. After completing her degree, she become an Associate of the Western Australian Institute of Technology and Design in Art Education, taught in secondary schools on enrichment programs for talented students, and lectured in a teacher's college and in art schools. Her first picture book, Sunshine, was published in 1981, won the Mother Goose Award, and was voted Australian Picture Book of the Year. She wrote and illustrated more than 50 books in her lifetime including Miss Mouse's Day, Lizzie Nonsense, Rhymes around the Day, Father Christmas and the Donkey, Ben Goes Swimming, Emily Dances, A Twist in the Tail, and Ponko and the South Pole. She also illustrated Sky Dancer by Jack Bushnell. She died after a long illness on January 23, 2013 at the age of 67.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-An honest and ultimately comforting look at the death of a pet. When Mousie doesn't wake up one morning, his young owner at first refuses to believe that the animal is dead. After listening to his father's gentle comments, the boy finally realizes the truth, reacting first with anger, then with sadness, and then with questions about why the mouse died. With the help of his parents, the youngster places his pet in a shoebox, tucks an old T-shirt around him, and then carefully chooses several special items to keep him company. He tapes the box shut, decides that it looks too plain, and decorates it with swirling painted lines. Outside, after he and his parents bury the shoebox, he cries a bit and then says good-bye to his friend. By the final double-page spread, he has found some closure and acknowledges that Mousie won't be coming back. He thinks about getting another mouse, "But not just yet." Told from the boy's point of view, the straightforward story genuinely captures the voice of a young child, and accurately reflects a natural grieving process. Set against pleasing buff-colored backgrounds, the artwork, done in black-pencil line and watercolor washes, echoes the emotional nuances of the story. Featuring soft lines and subdued shades, Ormerod's understated art suits the subject matter, and the pictures express the child's changing feelings without upstaging or overpowering them. An excellent choice to help young readers deal with loss.-Joy Fleishhacker, formerly at School Library Journal (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In our Best Books citation, PW wrote, "Harris's sensitively rendered narrative successfully tackles a child's first encounter with death, through the eyes of a preschool-age boy. Fluid pencil lines underscore the vulnerability of the boy and the poignancy of his story." Ages 4-8. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Gently but realistically, a young boy narrates the story of his reaction to MousieÆs death, going through denial, anger, and, finally, acceptance. After he prepares his pet for burial, lovingly painting the shoebox, he realizes that one day he may get another mouse . . . but not just yet. The quiet tones and soft lines of the illustrations provide an unobtrusive background, yet offer touches of warmth. From HORN BOOK Spring 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A little boy's pet mouse dies, and he and his family cope, in this gently done true-life tale by a team that has such an elegant grasp of the workings of the minds and hearts of children. A little boy fiercely denies that his pet mouse is dead, despite his father's remonstrations, and then he gets mad at Mousie, and finally sad. The boy and his parents put Mousie in a box with some of his favorite things-carrots, a piece of jam toast, and a toy or two-and make a headstone for him out of driftwood. Readers can hear the boy working things out for himself, that Mousie won't ever come back, that grief and longing are what he feels. And in the last frame, where he plays with Mousie's wheel and a toy mouse while wearing his mouse slippers, he thinks about getting another mouse-"But not just yet." Ormerod makes her images from a close-up, child-high perspective, with a fresh, clean palette: her headshot of the child bawling wildly at the realization of the truth of Mousie's demise is touching and tender, as is the gentle comfort of his father. Not since The Tenth Good Thing About Barney (1971) has there been such an affecting and satisfying story about the death of a pet. (Picture book. 4-8)
Booklist Review
Ages 2-4. A little boy wakes up one morning and tickles his pet mouse's tummy, but Mousie doesn't move. So begins this story for the very youngest about the death of a pet. Daddy tells the boy that Mousie is dead, but the child prefers to think that Mousie is just very, very tired. Slowly, after lots of tears and many questions, the boy comes to terms with the fact that his pet is gone. He plans for the funeral by painting a picture of himself to put inside the shoebox that will hold Mousie. He will get another pet, but not right away. Ormerod's honest pictures, black-pencil line drawings with watercolor washes on buff-colored paper, capture the emotions of the situation and chronicle the boy's move from disbelief to acceptance. The endpapers, on which Mousie cavorts, show what a delightful little pet he was. The choice of a first-person narrative has a tendency to distance listeners because the boy often sounds older than he looks. Still, this covers all the bases of a frequently asked-for subject. --Ilene Cooper
