From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3—Mary enjoys a comfortable, affluent childhood in the 1940s/'50s in her family's impressive brick home. One evening, after dropping a fork on the floor, she spies a mouse. From that day forward, Mary and the mouse each drop a utensil after dinner so they can peek at one another. As they grow up, they lead remarkably similar lives. The girl dons hippie attire and goes to college. She lives in a dorm, sleeps under a green blanket, and misses the mouse, who, in nearly identical, rodent-sized trappings, misses Mary. When Mary starts a family, she moves into an impressive home of her own. As luck would have it, the mouse moves her family under the very same roof, and it is there that the next generation of daughters discover one another. McClintock's beautiful watercolors have a great deal of charm and are fun to pore over, but they can't save the slight story. Consider it a supplemental purchase for larger collections.—
Catherine Threadgill, Charleston County Public Library, SC Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Little Mary lives in a big house with her mother, father, brother, and sister. And behind the dining-room wall, a little mouse lives with her mother, father, brother, and sister. Though the little mouse has been warned about people, and Mary has been warned about mice, they secretly wave to each other after dinner. Years later, Mary is grown, has a daughter named Maria and lives in a new house. Coincidentally, the little mouse lives in the same house with her daughter, Mouse Mouse. In its little girl–little mouse concept, the story is reminiscent of Jim Aylesworth's Two Terrible Frights (1987), but this develops differently. Since it takes two generations before a girl and a mouse actually speak to each other, the time frame is unusually long for a picture book, which makes this a bit static. Still, the telling is clean, the parallel structure of the tale is pleasing, and McClintock's warm, precisely drawn ink, gouache, and watercolor artwork will fascinate children and adults alike. Phelan, Carolyn
