I'm NOT a Mouse!

This laugh-out-loud picture book is a brilliant take on the use of pet names for children and the difficulties kids have with these. Olivia is called ‘Mouse’ by her mother, and every time she does so, Olivia turns into a mouse! This can have unusual ramifications, particularly when Mum calls ‘Mouse’ while Olivia is stroking their cat! The answer turns out to be that Olivia simply refuses to answer until her Mum uses her real name. Fine for her, but she soon realises that all her friends are called by pet names too, and they all turn into whatever that name is: Little Pumpkin, Sweetpea, Superstar, Treasure – whatever. This gets even funnier when Granddad takes Olivia and her Mum to the cinema and Granddad calls Mum his Little Chicken with the obvious result. A super wheeze this, and the pictures are huge fun too. One of the nicest touches is on the end papers. The one at the front is of a little mouse noodling about, and the one at the back shows all sorts of creatures who have turned into their pet names, some of them in other languages. The moral of this story is for the parents: Be careful when and where you call your children by their pet names!