A Mouse called Miika

A Mouse called Miika is the fourth in Haig’s popular Christmas series which began with The Boy Called Christmas recently released as a feature film. This volume tells the tale of a tiny mouse who leaves his home in search of cheese and adventure in ‘The World Outside’.

The story is set in the magical world of Elfhelm, with elves, trolls, flying reindeer, a truth pixie and of course Nikolas (the boy called Christmas). Miika has a series of scrapes and adventures particularly with his friend fellow mouse Bridget the Brave. With her Miika finds himself in the biggest scrape of all when they steal a lump of cheese from some fearsome trolls, incurring their wrath and putting themselves in great danger.

The text is engaging and includes some delicious, invented words such as ‘mudfungle’ an insult and drimwick – being touched with a magical spell and ‘urga burga’ seemingly irresistible cheese.

Chris Mould’s delightful lively and comic black and white illustrations perfectly complement the text. The hardback edition includes attractive colour endpapers.

This is a fast-paced engaging story with a magical cast and themes of friendship, bravery, jealousy, telling the truth and being yourself. It would be particularly enjoyable for young readers familiar with the storyworld and characters and perfect for independent readers gaining confidence with longer texts.