A wind-up mouse and his son’s journey from toyshop window to urban dump and beyond. A wind-up mouse sits in a toyshop window. He holds hands with a smaller mouse, his son. They are permanently connected in this way and rely on being wound up for any movement. In the shop window there is also a toy elephant and seal. The child mouse dreams of forming a family, hopefully with the elephant and seal. But these dreams are interupted when the mouse and his child are bought by a family one Christmas. They stay with the family for five years, then find themselves disposed of, rusted and rotting on a dump. The child mouse’s dream of creating a family and having a permanent home is revivied. No sooner has the child made this wish than they become the subject of a cruel master, Manny Rat. He is the boss of the dump, with obsequious rat underlings that follow his orders. Manny Rat runs a fleet of “wind-ups” that perform all sorts of hard labor. The child and his mouse in effect become his slave. Even the once beautiful elephant has fallen into his clutches, and now stumbles around with one eye. The mouse and his child escape for a time and meet the wise Frog, who is a fortune teller. Frog repeats a prophecy, over and over: “A dog shall rise, a rat shall fall.” What can the great Frog’s words mean? Many more hardships must be endured, battles waged and enemies vanquished, until the mouse and his child at last find the security they so desperately desire. Before writing adult novels, Russell Hoban was a celebrated children’s author. His 1967 novel, The Mouse and his Child, is a richly imagined story about two vulnerable outsiders looking to find their place in the world. What makes this stand out literature is the fine quality of Hoban’s prose and the story’s broad cast of well fleshed out characters. The mysterical Frog, with his sombre musings and haughty demeanour, is especially delightful. Readers of any age will find this plaintive tale emotionally and aesthetically satisfying. The Mouse and His Child, by Russell Hoban. Published by Faber Children. $14.99 Review by Chris Saliba Comments are closed.
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