What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

The illustrations were more lifelike than cartoon. Definitely NOT Richard Scary and the pie-rats. There may have been no words at all.

The basic story line (I think) was that the mice were having a gathering on a ferry boat, all having fun and whatnot, then a band of mean rats took over the boat. I don't remember how it ended.

Possibly The Church Mice Adrift or one of the other books in the series? I know there was a scene like this in one of them, just can't remember which!

I think the drawings were more lifelike than that. The artwork style was similar to A Wild Reindeer Christmas:

http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Christmas-...

Maybe something by James Herriot? The pictures remind me of his style and he does write about animals! :oD

Or Redwall??

It was definitely more Redwall-esque, in that the mice were the protagonists, but there were no words whatsoever in the book. It was a book I got once at the library when I was in my single-digits. The entire book took place on the river.

This is reminding me vaguely of Creepy Castle by John S. Goodall - but I don't see any books of his that might be completely about a sailing trip. The mice are on a ferry boat pushed by a frog at one point I think.

This is only a little similar to your description, but it makes me think of The Foxwood Regatta. In this book three animals, at least one of which is a mouse, build a riverboat to race with. Their main rival is a group of rats that cheats a lot. The rats ram at least one other boat in the race, putting a hole in it, and sabotage the main characters' fuel. The art is quite realistic. However, I'm pretty sure it has words in it, part of it takes place before the race (not on the river), and not all of the protagonists are mice.

Sounds pretty cool! The artwork looks closer than anything I've found yet...!

Sarah, are you still looking for this book?

Yes, still looking!

Sarah, when did you read this book?

Probably about 20 years ago. It's mostly a picture book - not too many words, if I remember correctly.

If you bump this up every month or two so that more people can see it, you stand a better chance of getting it found Sarah.

Oh, awesome! I didn't know that!

Sarah wrote: "I think the drawings were more lifelike than that. The artwork style was similar to A Wild Reindeer Christmas:

http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Christmas-......"

Michelle wrote: "Possibly The Church Mice Adrift or one of the other books in the series? I know there was a scene like this in one of them, just can't remember which!"

Are you sure it wasnt The Church Mice Adrift because I clearly remember the bad rats taking over their boat (really a floating dollhouse)

Pictures from the book http://www.grahamoakley.co.uk/page10....

I think the boat was a river boat that looked like this, except in kind of a more water-color look.

(https://www.google.com/search?q=river...)

Wallpaper from Space?

Steve sulks when his mom redecorates the house, but cheers up when he gets to pick out wallpaper with spaceships for his room. That night he is drawn into one of the spaceships, where he finds he has become a mouse and, along with the rest of the spacemouse crew, goes on a search for gumballs on an alien planet. As is true of many dreams, this story makes little sense: Once in space, Steve and the mice have few space-like adventures and, instead, boat down a river, do some mountain-climbing, and fit in a toboggan ride, all depicted in comic illustrations that are also fairly devoid of space motifs.

Only animals in the book. It was devoid of people.

Thanks for the help!

-Sarah

George Mouse's Water Music maybe?

No, the artwork doesn't look familiar. Thanks so much! :)

A stretch, but Mystery on the Docks by Thacher Hurd?
The illustrations are more along the cartoony side.

This blog has a few of the illustrations.

http://excellentkidsbooks.blogspot.co...

There was a post similar to this one. You may want to checkout that post also to see if your book may have been suggested.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I can't find even a cover image for this one, so it might be completely off, but just in case:
http://www.worldcat.org/title/romany-...

Edit: found an image, probably not a match: Romany Rat

Wow, thanks! Yeah, I think the other person's post is looking for more cartoony rats, whereas in looking for more realistic artwork. Great ideas, though!

Still looking now?

Lobstergirl wrote: "Still looking now?"
Yep!

It's not the Little Golden Book, "Theodore Mouse Goes To Sea," is it? As I recall, there is a scene where their "boat" gets attacked by evil rats.

"Theodore Mouse Goes To Sea,"

No, unfortunately. :( This book is my white whale!!

Lucy Kincaid has some books about animals on a riverboat that have been published in various versions. Riverboat Adventures is a possibility. I didn't think there were likely, but I did see this collection called Animal Tales on amazon. If you look in the second image provided for the book it appears to be a double-spread of lots of animals working on the boat including many mice and no words.

My child brain says the art was way more sophisticated that the cartoony art style in the Kincaid books, but then again, my child brain didn't have a lot of class. I've just ordered these from the library to see if they jog the memory!

Thanks!

Adele wrote: "Lucy Kincaid has some books about animals on a riverboat that have been published in various versions. Riverboat Adventures ..."

Just checked both of these books out of the library. Although VERY similar, there's no storyline of rats taking over the ferryboat. Thanks for the lead, though! I'll keep up my search!

How about now?

Still haven't found it! :(

Charlie, just to recap: the illustrations are simple or detailed? realistic, painted watercolor, and colorful? Similar to The Foxwood Regatta by Cynthia Paterson?

And no words in this picture book?

I added some details to the header/ topic title. Feel free to edit it.

Detailed, realistic, not watercolor, a little less "sketchy" artwork than the Foxwood Regata. The story, if I remember, is them just being on a boat cruise on a ferry boat and the rats take over. I don't remember a race or anything.

COMPILATION OF INFO (So far)
* The book is illustrated, but not in a cartoony way - in a sort of realistic way. (To the best of my childhood memory.)
* I read the book in the 90s as a child.
* The book was about mice sailing a river-boat type thing down a river, and they were boarded by rats and had to figure out how to get their boat back under control from the rats.
* I don't remember there being too many words - mainly a picture book. if there were words, it wouldn't have been more than a short paragraph per page.
Colorful, lots of greens and browns, not popping reds and blues.

The book is NOT:
Foxwood Regatta (it wasn't a boat race, it was pirate rats.)
James Harriot (too much writing)
Redwall (not a novel, it's a picture book)
Wallpaper from Space (there are no humans in this book)
George Mouse's Water Music (The artwork is too cartoony, no evil rats.)
Romany Rat (illustrations not realistic enough)
Riverboat Adventures (way too cartoony)
Mystery on the Docks (Not nearly realistic enough artwork)
Animal Tales (Too cartoony, and it was its own standalone book)
Theader Mouse Goes to Sea (not the ocean, it's a riverboat.)
Dominic (too cartoony, it's not about a dog)
Anton B. Stanton's books about rats (too cartoony)

*****

I'm looking into "The Church Mice Adrift again, as I was actually able to find a video of a dude reading it on Youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbUOn...

I'm going to get a copy and investigate!!