From Publishers Weekly
When two field mice take a peek at the vast world around them, they discover a whole host of interesting creatures. Baker's unusual "mouse's eye view" of nature provides an extraordinary wealth of detail. Flowers, berries, leaves and grasses fill his pages, providing a decorative frame for animals including a frog, a weasel, a squirrel and a fox. There is a pleasing continuity as the mice scamper forward in search of new sights, and children will relish finding the whimsical rodents on the bottom of each page. Baker's exquisite illustrations cannot fail to captivate, although they seem a bit static, as if the subjects are posing for photographs rather than going about their daily endeavors. Similarly, the simple text is soothing, and youngsters will enjoy the repetition of phrases as they identify each new creature, despite such uninspired descriptions as "the shy little sparrow," "a sly old fox," "a croaking frog" and "a quacking duck." Best to let the pictures, and young imaginations, speak for themselves. Ages 2-6.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3-- An introduction to the actual life of the wild animals found in Beatrix Potter's books, although here in full size with full color. Baker introduces in simple prose the English countryside seen from the mouse's-eye view of the title characters. They are not fearful prey when they observe predators, but simply observant bystanders whose job it is to take note of the wild residents of the expansive country that Baker sets as his purview. The text is simple, with an occasional extra comma. The pictures are large and detailed, with full backgrounds of natural fauna in colors so vivid as to verge on the fantastic. The countryside is neat and clean, with none of the real mud that even armchair tourists know can be found in such haunts. The distant backgrounds are occasionally whited out to emphasize the animals and flowers that frame the pictures quite decoratively, and the perspective is sometimes exaggerated, giving a surreal, dreamlike experience of things out of scale. A lovely coffee-table book for Anglophiles. --Ruth K. MacDonald, Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, IN
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.