School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-An elephant who apparently has no family finds a book called The Big Book of Knowledge, reads a description of a mouse (gray, big ears, skinny tail), and concludes that she is one. When she reads "mice have homes behind holes in the wall," she moves in with a mouse family. Although they are kind to her, Little Nelly is aware that she is different, and she is also very hungry. After Grandma Mouse does a little research on her laptop, they take Little Nelly to the zoo and introduce her to the resident "mice." At this point, one of the mice, Micky, has been looking through The Big Book of Knowledge and concludes that he is an elephant (gray, big ears, skinny tail). Micky and Little Nelly agree that although the former is an elephant and the latter a mouse, they can still be friends. The plot is implausible from start to finish and not likely to fly with even the youngest readers. While some of the digital illustrations are mildly comical, they push the envelope even further by giving Little Nelly distinctly mouselike ears. A marginal purchase.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
"[B]ooks should always have pictures" is the Wildean moral of this sweet comedy sketch of a book, and it's clear why: a pictureless tome entitled Big Book of Knowledge persuades an elephant named Little Nelly that she's a mouse ("Mice have big ears. Mice have skinny tails"). Luckily, Nelly collides with an understanding family of real mice (she attempts to sleep in a hole in a wall) that gently nudges her away from her false syllogism and back to her own species-although it is necessary to indulge in some subterfuge (the mice alter a zoo's "Elephants" sign to read "Zoo Mice"). Astute readers will note that, given British illustrator Rowland's whimsical rendering style, Little Nelly kind of has a point: both the mice and the elephant share the same sturdy bread-loaf body, and the differences between many of their appendages are simply a matter of scale. However, the slyly funny illustrations and Goodhart's (Three Little Ghosties) succinct, poker-faced prose make an important point: you can correct a friend's wrongheaded thinking without making him or her feel foolish. Ages 4-8. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
