The mouse and his child

Don't be misled by this book's cover, with its gentle picture of a windup toy mouse
hand in hand with his small son. The Mouse and His Child is and isn't a children's book but it is not recommended for the
soft hearted of any age.

The title characters, a mouse and his child, are toys who seem quite astonished to find themselves in the world,
moving from a toyshop to display items under a Christmas tree to, quite suddenly, the dump. Despite his father's doubts,
despite the adversity of the world including the wicked Manny Rat, the child holds onto and attempts to realize his dream of
finding and making his toyshop companions, a windup elephant and a windup seal, his mother and sister, and finding
and making the toyshop's dolls' house his family home.

I'm making it sound much more treacly than it is, however. There is hope and redemption in this story, but there is
also cruelty and death. Like most good children's stories, it can be read simply as a wonderful adventure if you are ten or
as a sophisticated fantasy with clever dialogue and deep meaning if you are twenty.

I liked it so much that I went right back and read it again when I finished. I would caution against reading by or
with the most sensitive of readers.

Although it's been many years since I had read this book, I still found it as poignant, funny and moving as I did when I was a child. I enjoyed the interactions between the tin mouse and his son in their quest to find a home and a family.