School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Adapting and combining "Hickory, Dickory, Dock," "Eeny Meeny Miney Mo," and "I Love Little Pussy," Schoenherr crafts a wild romp featuring a paper-parasol-equipped mouse leading a cat on a merry chase. On sprawling spreads, the two main characters loom large against a minimalist white background. The insouciant rodent uses its parasol as a tease, a weapon, and a parachute until the cat manages to snag it for its own toy. The mouse then employs a ball of yarn to distract and ultimately lasso the cat's paw to retrieve the prize, and the two friends cavort and nuzzle in the conclusion. The dynamic and realistic ink and acrylic illustrations feature a stop-action energy and changing perspectives that make the characters appear to actually move across the pages. This bright, funny book conveys the joy of play and a welcome friendship between two traditional antagonists.-Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
With a medley of three loosely adapted nursery rhymes as his text, Schoenherr (Pip & Squeak) lets loose a romp worthy of Tom and Jerry. "I Love Little Kitty" introduces each burst of action and serves as the wrapup, while also hinting that Cat and Mouse are really BFFs with a healthy sense of irony. In "Hickory, Dickory, Dock," Cat gets leveled by the mechanical bird in a cuckoo clock as Mouse escapes scot-free. The linked vignette "Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo" involves green yarn, Cat's big toe and some impressive lassoing techniques on the part of Mouse. Applying ink over acrylics, Schoenherr's technique is painstaking and exquisite--the cat's fur looks sumptuous; the cuckoo clock has the sculptural intensity of a baroque cathedral. Scale works as the images' comic foil: paring background and props to a bare minimum, Schoenherr lets the huge, saucer-eyed cat spill and sprawl across otherwise white pages, while the pink-eared mouse bops around with the grace of an Olympic gymnast. Ages 2-4. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
