The Mouse on the Moon

The Mouse That Roared #2

by Leonard Wibberley

The Duchy of Grand Fenwick, the world's smallest country, whose army of 20 longbow men defeated the United States in The Mouse that Roared is back again.

While the Americans and the Soviets are racing to claim the moon, Grand Fenwick's famous physicist makes the perfect rocket fuel from the zingiest wine in the world and the SPACE RACE IS ON!

Books in The Mouse That Roared Series:

Books 2 through 5 are best read after The Mouse That Roared, but all of the books can be read and enjoyed at any point in the series.

Book 1: The Mouse That Roared (Available on Kindle)
Book 2: The Mouse On The Moon (Available on Kindle)
Book 3: The Mouse On Wall Street (Available on Kindle)
Book 4: The Mouse That Saved The West (Available on Kindle)
Book 5: Beware Of The Mouse (A Prequel to The Mouse That Roared) (Coming soon to Kindle...)

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Science Fiction, Satire, Politics, Literature, Fantasy

124 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 24, 1962

About the author

Also wrote under his full name Leonard Patrick O'Connor Wibberley and under
Patrick O'Connor as well as pseudonyms Christopher Webb and Leonard Holton

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 5 out of 5]

The space race heats up

By Charles van Buren on September 26, 2018

Format: Kindle Edition

This 1962 sequel to the 1955, THE MOUSE THAT ROARED is a science fiction novel of humanity's attempts to reach the moon. Or it is a novel of satire of people, politics and government? Or it is a scathing tale of human weaknesses? Or a touching story of human foibles? Or of human genius? Or a tale of the people of Grand Fenwick attempts to buy an Imperial Russian Sable coat for their beloved duchees? Or the subtle maneuvering of the duchy's prime minister and leading diplomat to get modern plumbing and hot water? It is all of these things as well as being a very funny book featuring the cast of characters from THE MOUSE THAT ROARED. A few new ones are introduced including a pair of Bobolinks who innocently contribute to heating up the space race. A really funny book which was the basis of a second funny movie about Grand Fenwick.

I downloaded this book via Kindle Unlimited.

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life imitates art (though my understanding is that the spacecraft will not be powered by Luxembourg's unique Grand Cru vintage...)

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cold War race to the Moon derailed

What a delight that this very funny, hard to find series is now available on kindle. In this second book Count Montjoy is trying desperately to get funds to install plumbing, and improve roads in the Duchy of Grand Fenwick. In addition the young Duchess Gloriana has asked for a Russian sable fur coat. The Count is in despair as there are virtually no funds to cover these unusual expenditures and the opposition party is against all change and any new taxes. What to do? Ask the U.S.A. for a 5 million dollar loan for the Grand Fenwick Space Program seems reasonable. Of course nothing will go as planned, and the mouse will be heading for the moon with the 50 million dollars the U.S.A. insists on sending as a gift instead. Hilarious. The Cold War rises again.

[Lucie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many years ago I read The Mouse that Roared. This is the next book in the series. It is every bit as entertaining and funny as the previous book. A wonderful, fast read, although hard to find. I had to ask for interlibrary loan to get a copy. After starting the book, I remembered having seen a movie many, many years ago of this story. The book brought the movie back to mind. Both were wonderful.

[Tommy Verhaegen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een gezellige voortzetting van de wereldhit "De muis die brulde". Dezelfde karakter die we ondertussen al redelijk goed kennen spelen opnieuw mee al komen er enkele andere spelers op de voorgrond. Opnieuw geen schollende gebeurtenissen maar een soort onderkoelde manier van vertellen. Een reis naar de maan is toch geen klein bier maar dat wordt op erg grappige manier een veel kleiner plaatsje gegeven dan een bontjas, een warm bad of een paar verdwaalde vogels.
Natuurlijk gaat het hertogdom opnieuw, ongewild, maar dit keer niet letterlijk, de strijd aan met de grootmachten van deze wereld. Altijd postief, vaak grappig en soms ronduit hilarisch en vol dubbele bodems. Opnieuw een topper.

[TINNGG · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed, I cried, it moved me Bob. Ok, in all silliness... this is pretty entertaining. First you have the scheming of the Count of Mountjoy, who bemoans his apparent mediocrity, then you have the opportunity, which is the the Grand Duchess' desire for a fur coat. So he seizes said opportunity and sends a loan request to the US for $5 million to send a rocket to the moon, and a fur coat. The Sec. of which ever division whose lap this request fell to, after discussing it with his advisor, *granted* the Grand Duchy of Finwick $50 million for their space exploration. Of course, as expected, they Ass-You-Me'd that this was going to actually be used for improvements like roads and indoor plumbing.

Heh. They even filled the request for a spare rocket (one of the Saturns) figuring it would be used for a giant water heater.

Imagine everyone's surprise when the Grand Duchy of Finwick beat both the US and the USSR to the moon, in a cast-off rocket, powered by a hogshead of a very good year and a few hundred pounds of iron fillings.

[Silesianfemboy · Rating 3 out of 5]

glupotki ale faine

[Timothy Rodgers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful light read with some insight on humans.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amusing shaggy dog story about a minor principality making fools out of the Cold War superpowers inadvertently and accidentally. I like that it sent me to Google some interesting topics that were new to me:

* New World bobolink birds
* The Henschel Hs 293 Nazi glider bomb called Chase-me-Charlie

I happened to be readying Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space at the same time, so it rather struck me that this 1962 work foreshadowed by a decade The Blue Marble image of Earth seen from space:

As they stood looking ... earth raised her self over the lunar desolation-a lovely huge blue liquid jewel, hung in a sky of sable. The sight was so entrancing that neither of them could speak. It was magnificent beyond anything they had ever seen, and the light which earth now gave to the moon was not the harsh, blinding light of the burning sun, but a gentle bluish light, consoling as a bene- diction, taking the savagery out of the terrible craters and fissures and mountains of the moon and investing them with a softness that made them almost lovely in turn.

...

"I never knew it was so beautiful," said Vincent at last. "It is lovely beyond everything else in all the heavens.' "It is our home," said Dr. Kokintz simply and sadly.

[Richard Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

On rereading this book after about 40 years--I still liked it.

It's a slim book and a quick read; somewhat realistic and somewhat farcical; quite satirical and quite funny. Taken together, it's a winner.

This isn't biting satire, but whimsical, though it isn't less effective for that. It still forces the reader to think from the perspective of citizens of small nations and maybe reconsider (as an American) how much we walk on other people without considering their rights.

In some ways, the first novel and this sequel are both science fiction, imagining a world where a tiny nation develops some key new technology and uses it to leapfrog the superpowers in importance and genuine power. This science--a type of nuclear bomb in the first novel and a new type of nuclear power in the second--dismantles the power balance of the time (1960s).

It's a nice thought experiment, and the author uses it to tell a gentle satire on the politics of that time. It's also got a little comedy, a little romance, and international politics, making it easy to see why it was made into a movie.

So, good fun. I almost would give it all the stars except I don't want to oversell it. It's pleasant and amusing, and you would probably like it.

[Rich Helms · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many people prefer "The Mouse That Roared" but my favourite in the 5 book series is "The Mouse on the Moon."

I have been studying the book, comparing it to the movie and the Dell comic. A community theatre, high school stage version was briefly produced called Mouse on Mars but was dropped.

As the book was written in 1962, the material is very dated but the humour wonderful.

The 5 book series is available on Kindle for a low cost.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not as ridiculously fun as The Mouse Who Roared, The Mouse On The Moon offers a satirical commentary on the space race just as applicable as its predecessor. Random tidbits make it a gem, such as the Count of Montjoy securing $50,000,000 for a rocket when he intended to get $5,000,000 for indoor plumbing for a for coat. he temporarily becomes the party leader for both political parties. And then there's the scientist's fixation on bobolinks. Definitely worth the read!

[Jack Carrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book. A little dated but that is one of the things that make it fun. Interesting look at the silliness of races between countries to get a goal like landing on the moon. But also through the lens of what seemed like a much simpler time.

[Norman Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am beginning to think that Leonard Wibberley is like Terry Pratchett. Each of the books is about far more than the cover topic.
This story is about the Space Race, the Cold War, and the ways in which tiny nations can steer the course of international politics.

[Stevyn Colgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read. Always love dthe film - the book is even better. It helps that I'm in my fifties; I suspect that some of the political satire could be lost on much younger readers. But loved it :)

[Gleb Bazilevsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of the Mouse that Roared and was very happy to read this sequel, which was as playful and poignant as the first. Thank you to my friend Ben for this present!

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite as entertaining as the first book.

[Frances · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amusing take on the space race in the history of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick where neither nor the US or Russia beat the tortoise in the race to the moon.

[Danni · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of numbers. A lot of talk about money

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as the first one, but still entertaining and had me laughing out loud at times.

[Paul Triller · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great mix of fun, wit, and tongue in cheek social commentary.

[Jeff Mayo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read, I read it on a plane. The sequel to "The Mouse That Roared" is not quite as funny as the original, and isn't quite as clever. Written in 1962 it was three quarters of a decade before the actual moon landing. A tiny country gets in the space race to get money from both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. The plan is to fake a very bad space program while using the money to provide the country with sewers and indoor plumbing. But, along the way, a scientist accidentally invents a better rocket fuel and a real rocket is sent to the moon. The first manned space flight to the moon underway, both the Americans and the Soviets scramble to catch up. It gets really silly, turning more to slapstick than satire, and the material hasn't aged well. Still, it is a quick read, and for the most part it is kind of fun.

[Jonathan Palfrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing a sequel to The Mouse That Roared was a tough proposition. Although readers would naturally like to hear more of Grand Fenwick and its people, the original book seemed designed to stand alone, and it must have been hard to find a suitable story for a sequel.

The story that Wibberley came up with for this volume is even less credible than the original, and the telling of it somewhat less charming. But it is an adequate sequel that still makes a pleasant read, if you can suspend your disbelief.

Unfortunately it doesn’t succeed in reproducing the main attractions of the original book. We don’t see much of the people of Grand Fenwick this time, with the exception of Mountjoy and Kokintz (who are not at all typical or representative); Tully rarely appears, and Gloriana appears mostly in her official capacity. No bowmen go into action; and I think a really successful sequel would have had to find a new mission for the bowmen of Grand Fenwick, led by Tully.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 2 out of 5]

May 1968. Dr Kokintz 64, world's best physicist, finds new element from wine "Pinot Grand Fenwick -- Premier Cru" only from best-tasting years, "64 is the atomic number" p 84. With a few iron filings, a bottle is powered silently through atmosphere. To send a second-hand Saturn rocket shell holding Dr K and Tully Bascombe, consort of Queen Gloriana to the moon and back "all that would be needed would be a hundred pounds of iron filings and a hogshead of wine" p 91.

Eminent diplomat Count Mountjoy asks U.S. for $5M moon loan, really to fix plumbing, pipe hot and cold, plus $50K fur coat for Gloriana, and old Saturn shell. U.S. Secretary of State generously applies $50M grant. On final pages he phones Saks department store to deliver coat. Huh? After seal coat and other activists have fought, issue seems dated, belongs to years of Marylin Monroe films. Dr K occupies self "vigorous correspondence" p 105 over unusual pair of bobolinks nesting in Fenwick forest.

Typo:
p 17 cockscrew is corkscrew

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Second book in the Mouse series, not nearly as good as the prequel ( The Mouse that Roared ) nor the sequel (The Mouse on Wall Street).

The book covers Grand Fenwick's attempts to win the "space race" between the USA and USSR (and now Grand Fenwick). Unfortunately for the reader, Wibberley has entirely removed characters from the continuity stream, merged some together, or changed the nature of some characters: the destroying of Tully Bascomb's character in particular was frustrating. A good read for youths, although it will likely feel dated now, it doesn't offer too much for the more intellectually minded.

[Ann aka Iftcan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second of the "Mouse" books, following The Mouse that Roared. A charming, light-hearted book, that has humour, romance and a dash of sci-fi.

I have read this book before--but for a challenge I had to re-read it, so decided to set the date read to today and to write this little review.

[Erik Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this sequel to The Mouse That Roared because I had liked the film and the book, which I read afterwards. The Mouse on the Moon, however, was taking the joke too far for me. I didn't proceed to the other two sequels.

[Mattaniah Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wibberly delivers once again in his sequel to "The Mouse That Roared". Fun story, once again a wonderful balance of comedy and story. It's sad that the only movie version of this sequel completely lost the spirit of the book.

[Tommyb]

Fiction

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite of the 'Mouse' series. Still full of wit and clever ideas about world events, but the space program stuff seems a bit too science fiction for this political satire series.