Born in a kindergarten classroom on the first day of school, knowledge-hungry mouse Flora's favorite word is "why." Peering down from her hiding place above the teacher's desk, the bright and curious mouse learns how to decipher the little black marks found in books and becomes a reader. When an exterminator comes to school and puts down boxes of tempting but poisonous pellets called Musmors, Flora is stunned to read the warning label: "MUSMORS IS DEATH TO ALL MICE." Sadly, she is too late to stop her siblings from scarfing down the tasty blue pellets, but she manages to save the lives of both her parents. When her mother, Hyacinth, packs up her latest litter of nine mousekins and leaves the school for safer digs, Flora decides to stay, moving up to a new home in the first grade to continue her education.

Like the best of students, Flora is not content until she can pass on her learning, attempting to teach her parents and new beau, Buck, a handsome escaped pet white mouse, the letters of the alphabet and more. As she says, "I'll be the world's first ever schoolteacher mouse." Talk about the power of reading and knowledge, which helped Flora thrive. Really, the lesson learned from this book is this: Reading can save your life! Ask your children if they can recall the moment they first began to make sense of print and became readers. Have them make a list of everything they'd like to know, questions they'd like answered, and things they're curious about. Many of the answers can be found in books, of course. Surely, everyone will want to memorize and recite Flora's singular ABC rhyme (page 109 in the book) that goes:

A B CD E F G
Oh what clever mice are we!
H I J K L M N
Mice are just as bright as men.
O P Q R S T U
And to prove that this is true,
V and W X Y Z
That's the alphabet, you see!

Reviewed by JF.

THEMES: BOOKS AND READING. FANTASY. MICE. SCHOOLS & SCHOOL STORIES.