Need a house? Call Ms Mouse! by George Mendoza and Doris Susan Smith
Ms Mouse architect and designer to her friends, the animals that live nearby, takes on all sorts of projects, buildings she ensures are uniquely suited to each of her clients. The text points out just who her clients are and the dimensions of their requests. We hear of her dedication to her task, sitting at her drawing table, often well into the night, while the illustrations reveal the finished products. And what a joy they are.
Her genius lies in ensuring the finished home is just what is needed for each particular client, down to the most minute detail.
Readers will pore over the double page spreads which showcase these homes, marvelling at the detail, the trouble she has gone to to make sure everything in the home suits the client, revealing Ms Mouse’s talents at fitting the house into the landscape, one favoured by the animal concerned.
Her dedication is underlined on the cover image, showing her hard at work, the detritus of trial and error at her feet, a tray of coffee to keep her working, the images of projects she has worked on behind her.
Opening the book reveals some of her magical work. Readers will pore over each page, taking in the detail so suited to each animal. I love the Caterpillar, his home carved into a pear, food stored in the cellar below, the upper story with live pot plants, Caterpillar comfortably watching TV, warmly waiting for his metamorphosis. No one can disturb the creature as Ms Mouse has included a drawbridge stopping any would be intruder.
Spider’s house is full of computer technology, ensuring the dimensions of the web created outside are strong and well secured.
The Mole who lives underground has an amazing entry at the top of the mound; a trapdoor takes Mole down a lovely spiral staircase to his small but comfortable accommodation with the bedroom being the major concern, while Fox’s house, also underground reveals a comfortable pad to come home to after all the running and making of cunning plans. Relaxation is his main focus and the design takes this into account. Each of the fifteen designs is very different: Trout’s Atlantis garden, Squirrel’s tree house and Lizard’s beach house for example, prompt the readers to perhaps think of what Ms Mouse’s ideal home might be. A surprise awaits at the end of the book.
Children will love the intriguing detail, the thought processes that developed the ideas behind each particular house, the illustrations of the houses as well as the animals, bleeding design, architecture and lifestyle on every richly evocative page. First published in 1981.
Themes: Housing, Architecture, Design, Lifestyle, Animals, Drawing.
Fran Knight
