This article is from the WSSF 2007 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

By Hattie McRattie

Written by Jean Coopendale
Published by QED Publishing, A Quarto Group Company,
226 City Road, London, EC1V 2TT
Copyright 2004, 32 Pages
ISBN: 1-84538-289-7

What a charming book (How could it be anything else with such a great title!). If your family is searching all the local pet shops looking for basic first mouse information, this publication, by Jean Coopendale, will probably end up in your hands because your five-year-old has found it for you. He didn’t need to rely on reading skills, as this book’s high-gloss, quality cover cleverly and colorfully expresses everything that’s on the inside. The subsequent pages are filled with high quality pictures and simple sentences that your child will respond excitedly to with rapt attention. Every chapter also has a help bubble for the first time mouse-owning parent – Parent Points!

The photographer did a great job using a variety of adorable mice in many interesting situations. If a picture’s worth a thousand words, this 32-page book speaks volumes. There are several pictures of what some people might call Designer Mice. You know, the colors generally available only with serious breeders.

It would seem all the books that could have been written about mice would have already been written . . . WRONG!! This book is a necessity in every home of all small pet owners whether or not you have children (the pictures are that good). It is geared to mice, but the premise of the book can be applied to most pocket pets and all pets in general.

This book gives the young owner-to-be several things to stop and really think about. It even covers the older mouse and its end in life and it is handled in a way that is not traumatic. You may find yourself reading this book to your children as a bedtime story. It is written that well.