Little Mouse's Big Book of Beasts

Emily Gravett’s Little Mouse has been amending/vandalising books again: nibbling the edges of pages; tearing bits out and sticking things in; putting mittens on sharp claws; amending the crocodile based instructions on looking after one’s teeth; adding distractions in the shape of origami instruction to make your own paper shark (or mouse); and even providing, in the case of the wasp, a means to combat the dangers that these creatures pose. Thankfully, this one, about a number of dangerous beasts of one kind or another, isn’t a library book, like that one about wolves.

Characteristically witty, playful and ingenious – who else but Little Mouse/Gravett would think of putting high heeled shoes on a rhino to slow it down? – this book also has a definite retro feel: from the little verses that introduce each beast, to the muted colours of the illustrations and the type faces of the inserted magazines. Like Wolves, this book takes a sideways approach to real anxieties, the pages devoted to those particular predators of mice, the owl and snake, do have a disturbing aspect. The final pages, collecting all the bits that mouse has taken from each of the previous pages, expresses the triumph of little over large, of imagination over fear.