Mouse Attack

Mice make the best anthropomorphic heroes; cute and clever they’re the perfect incarnation of right over might, brains versus brawn. Our hero Arvee is particularly brainy: a laboratory mouse, he’s become quite a scholar. His adventures begin when he’s taken from his cosy home to live as a child’s pet. His new life proves comfortable too, if lacking in intellectual stimulation, but before long he’s caught up in the struggles of the house’s wild mice against a colony of evil rats.

Padma creates a convincing world: Arvee is fascinated by the ant line – a sort of ant telephone the mice have devised. There’s psychological detail too: the wild mice are suspicious of Arvee because of his ability to read, while he is tempted by the Rat Lord’s offer to put him in charge of an educational foundation. After the mice’s exciting and tightly plotted victory over the rats the scene is set for a sequel; many readers would snap it up.