Short text, invitations to look carefully at the illustrations and see what is happening, lovely characters and funny incidents, what more can you want from a children's book?
The books in this series are about a family of 14 mice who have to leave their home and move further into the forest because of humans. There really is not much of a plot to any of the books. But they have a Japanese nostalgic quality that I love so much. Each book really just celebrates the small things in life. The stories are about doing laundry or snowy days, or taking a bath. The illustrations are beautiful and the message of family and taking pleasure in everyday activities is charming.
All the books in this series are so good! I really wish they would translate them into English.
I chose this book for my son online, which means I couldn't hold it, touch the pages or even look inside and see all of them (which I normally love doing). But the cover itself with its company of very distinct but unquestionably cute mice looked adorable enough to pick it. And I'm so happy I did, because inside there is a wealth of amazing illustrations, with lots of detail of the natural world as well as the house of mice inside a huge tree: from all sorts of bugs hiding on leaves while the mice travel to pick wild raspberries, to toy mice dolls and wooden trains. The story is very simple, with only a sentence or two on each page, but together with so much visual material it is more than enough. My toddler adores this book. He loves searching for new details every time we look at the pictures, learning to recognise each mouse, and actually listening to the text as well. The obviously present elements of Japanese culture offer a wonderful opportunity to teach cultural differences (such as eating soup for breakfast in Japan), and it adds a great educational touch along with teaching kindness, togetherness, and family values. It's a shame these books don't seem to be very popular or even well-known in a lot of countries, but I hope this will change as I'm sure most little ones will enjoy this wonderful series. My son and I are definitely adding this book to our list of favourite picture books and are looking forward to reading more books about this sweet family of mice.
I borrowed many of the books from the series at the library, and they’re all lovely. I would definitely want them in my kids’ collection. Nothing much happens, but the family works as a team, and we keep finding new details in the illustrations: hidden animals, or some aspect of the story unfolding over many pages.
Fijne verjaardag naar mij! En wat beter dan een boek lezen over muizen! Een van mijn favoriete diersoorten! Dit boek was enorm zoet en erg mooi getekend. We zien de muisjes wakker worden en de oudste muizenkinderen (en een ukkie) gaan op zoek naar lekker eten voor het ontbijt en voor de dag. Onderweg kom je van alles tegen en zien we de muisjes veel plezier hebben. Aan het einde wilde ik maar al te graag aanschuiven aan die tafel, want het zag er zo gezellig uit met lekker eten!