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Summary
Summary
Newbery Award-winning author Richard Peck is at his very best in this fast-paced mystery adventure. Fans of The Tale of Desperaux, A Little Princess, and Stuart Little will all be captivated by this memorable story of a lovable orphan mouse on an amazing quest.
The smallest mouse in London's Royal Mews is such a little mystery that he hasn't even a name. And who were his parents? His Aunt Marigold, Head Needlemouse, sews him a uniform and sends him off to be educated at the Royal Mews Mouse Academy. There he's called "Mouse Minor" (though it's not quite a name), and he doesn't make a success of school. Soon he's running for his life, looking high and low through the grand precincts of Buckingham Palace to find out who he is and who he might become.
Queen Victoria ought to be able to help him, if she can communicate with mice. She is all-seeing, after all, and her powers are unexplainable. But from her, Mouse Minor learns only that you do not get all your answers from the first asking. And so his voyage of self-discovery takes him onward, to strange and wonderful places.
Author Notes
Richard Peck was born in Decatur, Illinois on April 5, 1934. He received a bachelor's degree in English literature from DePauw University in 1956. After graduation, he served two years in the U.S. Army in Germany, where he worked as a chaplain's assistant writing sermons and completing paperwork. He received a master's degree in English from Southern Illinois University in 1959. He taught high school English in Illinois and New York City.
He stopped teaching in 1971 to write a novel. His first book, Don't Look and It Won't Hurt, was published in 1972 and was adapted as the 1992 film Gas Food Lodging. He wrote more than 40 books for both adults and young adults including Amanda/Miranda, Those Summer Girls I Never Met, The River Between Us, A Long Way from Chicago, A Season of Gifts, The Teacher's Funeral, Fair Weather, Here Lies the Librarian, On the Wings of Heroes, and The Best Man. A Year down Yonder won the Newbery Medal in 2001 and Are You in the House Alone? won an Edgar Award. The Ghost Belonged to Me was adapted into the film Child of Glass. He received the MAE Award in 1990 and the National Humanities Medal in 2002. He died following a long battle with cancer on May 23, 2018 at the age of 84.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
As endearing as Peck's Secrets at Sea, this companion novel, also set during the Victorian era and accompanied by Murphy's carefully detailed pencil illustrations, introduces a new cast of memorable mice born and bred in London. At center stage is narrator Mouse Minor, an undersize orphan with a question mark-shaped tail, who is uncertain of his heritage. Raised in the Royal Mews next to Buckingham Palace by skilled needlemice, Mouse Minor attends a prestigious school but is tormented by his classmates. When Mouse Minor learns that two bullies "meant to pound me into a jelly," he flees beyond familiar territory and ends up in the palace, where the staff is frantically preparing for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. All the while, Mouse Minor is unaware that spies are tracking his every move. The small hero's brushes with danger and run-ins with royalty (both human and rodent) unfold with Peck's characteristic wit and flair for adventure. Readers will gleefully suspend disbelief as they trace Mouse Minor's exciting journey, which draws him to a life-altering revelation and surprise reunions with friends and foes. Ages 8-12. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
The orphaned narrator of this companion to Peck's first mouse book, Secrets at Sea (rev. 9/11), doesn't even know his own name, and his tail falls into the shape of a question mark, a reflection of the many questions he has about himself. Raised by his aunt Marigold in the mouse domain of Queen Victoria's Buckingham Palace, he does know a Great Truth: "For every job a human holds, there is a mouse with the same job, and doing it better." Fleeing some bullies, Mouse Minor (as he becomes known at school) begins an adventure in which he encounters surprising friends, including a cat and a horse, and for a day becomes a Yeomouse of the Guard. Like Secrets at Sea (with which this book overlaps only tangentially), this change of pace from Peck's quintessentially American stories will delight readers with its British pageantry seen through the eyes of a feisty, insightful narrator. Children may miss some of the sly humor of the royal setting and characters but will still enjoy the twists and turns of this old-fashioned rags-to-riches story. It's written in an easy, unlabored style but still reflects Peck's relish for the perfect word and phrase; readers and listeners (it makes a great read-aloud) will savor every one. Final art not seen. susan dove lempke (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* There is a basic philosophy underlying this sweet mouse-out-in-the-world story: For every human on earth, there is a mouse doing the same job, and doing it better. A tiny, unnamed mouse, with notched ears and a tail that falls naturally into the shape of a question mark, attends the Royal Mews Mouse Academy, taught by toothy headmaster B. Chiroptera. But after being bullied by other mice and driven by the essential question of his identity, the mouse leaves the academy and hatches a rather unformed plan to visit ancient Queen Victoria, awaiting her Diamond Jubilee, in the hopes that the all-knowing monarch can tell him who he is. Along the way to Buckingham Palace, he rides in the ear of a horse named Peg (it's very waxy), falls into a punch bowl (it's very pink), and meets a cast of mice and bats who serve the queen. Murphy's black-and-white illustrations, with pulled quote captions, add charm in spades, and there's one tipped-in full-color illustration in each of the book's three main parts. You can't help but make comparisons to some other very famous books about mice, namely Kate DiCamillo's The Tale of Despereaux (2003) and E. B. White's Stuart Little, but the parallel world of mice and humans also echoes Mary Norton's The Borrowers (1952). Peck (A Year Down Yonder, 2000) is terrific in relaying small details, like the intricacy of mouse uniforms, and this clever yarn should delight fans of animal adventure stories. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Peck is a Newbery Award winner for A Year Down Yonder and a two-time National Book Award finalist. This may be a book about a tiny mouse, but it'll be big on everyone's radar.--Kelley, Ann Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-Peck, a Newbery Award-winning author, spins a fanciful tale (Dial, 2013) about Mouse Minor, or Nameless, a lonely critter who doesn't know his own parentage and embarks on a quest to discover the answers. He attends the Royal Mews Mouse Academy during the height of Victorian England. The mouse society in which he lives mirrors the life of British royals. Unfortunately, because he has no real name, no known past, and is the smallest mouse in London, Mouse Minor is bullied and teased daily. As Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee approaches, Mouse believes the greatest queen in history could be all-knowing. Determined to seek out her wisdom, he sets off on a grand adventure to Buckingham Palace, only to find himself in a number of dangerous predicaments along the way. Russ Bain performs this tale in his silky British accent, adding a lovely touch of authenticity. He provides a nice variety of voices, including a gruff, Scottish Yeomouse to Transylvanian bats who roll their r's and mix their v's and w's. This delightful audiobook will appeal to fans of Mary Norton's "The Borrowers" series and The Tale of Despereaux (Candlewick, 2003) by Kate DiCamillo.-Jennifer Mann, Cromaine District Library, MI (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Peck returns to the parallel mouse society he introduced in the effervescent Secrets at Sea (2011) for a rodent's-eye view of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Readers first meet the titular mouse, the book's narrator, in the Royal Mews. A foundling, he's been brought up by his "aunt" Marigold, who is fond of aphorisms. "Nameless is Blameless" is one of her favorites, used whenever her young charge asks who he is. Blameless he may be, but that doesn't keep him out of scrapes. On the run from a couple of school bullies, he finds himself exposed, in his school uniform, on the floor of the royal riding school, where he is noticed by a human--most definitely not the done thing. In short order, he goes from this disgrace to refuge in a horse's manger to a daylong stint as a Yeomouse of the Guard to the private chambers of Queen Victoria, where he blunders into secret upon secret, including, at the end, his identity. Peck binds this unlikely romp together with his characteristically witty and precise prose, flavored by an endearing blend of humility and superiority that only a British foundling mouse can muster. Details of the mouse world that bustles around and under the human world will enchant lovers of animal fantasy, and clever running jokes provide both humor and continuity (our poor hero is continually asked, "Are you not yet full-grown, or just short?"). This mouse-sized identity quest sparkles. (Animal fantasy. 8-12)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
