The Girl Who Made a Mouse From Her Grandfather’s Whiskers

by Kenneth Hunter Gordon

In a distant future, a little girl named Anny makes toy mice out of scraps and dust. Anny has never seen a real mouse, just as she’s never seen the planet her family came from many generations ago. All she knows is her home, Tsedt: an isolated village of human colonists’ descendants and their friendly helper robots.

But then one day the Amau arrive in Tsedt: plastic people with luminous eyes, intent on taking young humans to the distant city of Harbor to be educated. It’s not long before Anny is flown away to a place unlike any she’s seen before.

Genres: Science Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

Expected publication March 17, 2026

Reviews

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The distant future that feels like an ancient fable. The warm heart in this story is a reminder of what technology cannot fully pilfer from the human experience.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a weird book & I love a book that gets strange! I’m in the middle of exploring a bunch of novellas, saw the title (definitely unusual) & thought why not! I’d recommend it to people who are interested in sci fi that doesn’t conform to typical tropes of the genre.

I found myself hooked within a few pages & wanted to race straight through to the end. The reason I knocked a star off was because of the ending. While enough things were resolved that I could walk away from the story very satisfied, certain questions were never answered. I could definitely make a case defending the authors choice to leave us still wondering but ultimately I’d like to know what’s going on with the MC abilities that the other colonists didn’t seam to have.

Anyways absolutely loved this! Thought it was inventive, fun & filled with plenty to think about. Would absolutely be interested in more stories from this world!

[Vaughn Lach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Feliza Casano at Lanternfish Press for an ARC of this book!

Evoking Kazuo Ishiguro and Robin Sloan, this atmospheric sci-fi fairytale somehow feels limitless and intimate at the same time. We see this future- recognizable in its humanity, but also strange- through the eyes of a young girl, which allows the reader to both experience the wonder and revel in the resilience of children.

[Red Goddess Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

With my whole heart and soul, I adored this book! We begin the story with Anny, a young girl living with her family. She enjoys making mice from bits of fluff that she finds lying around and this in turn is her other family. When people are invited to the city to learn new and interesting thing’s circumstances become mysterious. This book is strange and confusing and whimsical or are any of these adjectives truly accurate? That is for you the reader to decide. If you enjoy books that allow you the freedom to interpret its meaning and stories that play with your imagination, books so unique that you would have a difficult time describing it yet tugs at your heart and makes your question reality, then here you go. When I am lucky enough to come across these little gems I am so grateful. I will not soon forget this book.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short piece resonated strongly with me.

There is something distinctly beautiful about Anny's understanding of the world around her. Fusing curiosity and innocence, knowledge and ignorance, she discovers the power of true connection with others.

Kenneth Gordon's worldbuilding pulls off a unique feat here. He leads the reader into a place that feels incredibly old – almost ancient – yet somehow far in the future.

In creating such a world, Gordon pulls the reader deeply into Anny's story. We experience her immersion into a distant city so different from the village she grows up in.

I highly recommend this altogether unique novella.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lanternfish Press for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very clever and sophisticated novella that reads like a fairy tale. Evokes essence of a child’s fairly tale and is much scarier. A moral tale of what can happen when humans use robots to try and deliver them benefits. I really enjoyed it. Thank you to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

[Anna Beth Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

According to my Kobo I was 77% of the way through when I stopped reading. This book was very uniquely written. I think the idea was that since its from a child’s perspective, the oddly constructed sentences were ok. I did like the idea of the world he created. It kind of felt like the land of Oz gone wrong and that made it very intriguing in that aspect.
However, I found the book hard to follow. The descriptions used were often vague or confusing, and alongside the style of writing I often didn’t quite get the whole picture. Also, I was 44% of the way through before I could answer the question “Why does the book have this title?” And “Why should I care about what is going on?”.
Because the main character is fairly neutral towards what is happening, I as the reader also felt that way. There wasn’t an actual ‘issue’ or danger even 44% of the way through the book. I just got a slight ‘something is wrong’ feeling and for me that is not enough to keep reading a book. I wanted to put the book down then but wanted to also give it another try.
This book needed more urgency or have the issue seem bigger by at least 20% of the way in.
Loved the world though.

[Cathy Newman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The way this book was written, I assume it was meant to be some sort of allegory. But I couldn't tell you what the meaning is. The world-building started out interesting, but I have no idea what was going on in the second half of this book. Who/what is The Mouse? Who/what are mice? Are they real or alive? Are they all in Anny's head? What exactly were the city people doing to the villagers and why? I have no clue. It sounded like the world and the story could have been interesting, if only it weren't written in such vague and distant prose. Perhaps this book just wasn't for me and others would get more from it.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC.

[amy]

thank you lanternfish press & netgalley for the arc!