Mouse TV - Softcover

Matt Novak has been writing and illustrating picture books for over 20 years. Among his many titles are A Wish for You, The Everything Machine, Flip Flop Bop, The Pillow War, The Last Christmas Present, and Elmer Blunt's Open House. His Mouse TV was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and Newt received an IRA Children's Choice Award. Matt has been a puppeteer, a teacher, and a Disney artist. While at Disney he worked on such films as "Rescuers Down Under" and "Beauty and the Beast." He and his family now live in Pennsylvania.

PreSchool-Grade 2-The mouse family can't agree on what to watch on TV. Papa wants adventure, Laszlo loves history, Hilda prefers how-to shows, and so on through 10 channels. As the creatures announce their preferences, screen-shaped panels depict samples of their favorite genres. On Emily's page, for example, 16 small screens show a wordless detective mystery; Melba's scary viewing includes 9 scenes, among which are a mouse mummy, mouse ghosts haunting a cat, and a mouse encircled by mousetraps. One night, the TV doesn't work, and the rodents find ways to get the same kinds of entertainment without it. Instead of watching scary shows, they make scary faces. And without the TV, the family enjoys each activity together...with no commercials. The cartoon illustrations are delightful, and children will love identifying the mouse-related humor in many of them. The cleverest aspect of the message is that TV-watching is never condemned or criticized. The pictures depicting the different channels look much too interesting for that. Instead, Novak gently, and quite successfully, shows that there are countless ways to enjoy oneself as an active participant rather than as a passive viewer.
Steven Engelfried, West Lynn Library, OR
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.