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James Patterson’s Word of Mouse Introduces a Tiny Hero With a Big Heart
Isaiah, the tiny star of Word of Mouse, has a whopping 96 brothers and sisters, all of whom are imprisoned together in a laboratory; the same laboratory that turned Isaiah blue. (It also gave him extra abilities not so common to the ordinary mouse—talents like reading, talking, and typing on a computer by dancing on the keyboard.) Isaiah and his brothers and sisters came up with a daring plan to escape, but he was the only one that wasn’t caught and imprisoned again back at the lab. Now, Isaiah, the scaredy-cat of his family, and also the youngest and smallest of his many brothers and sisters, is all on his own…in suburbia. Full of cats, birds, rats, and more cats. What’s a teeny blue mouse to do?
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Word of Mouse, a brand new middle grade book by the powerhouse team of James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein, and packed with charming illustrations by Joe Sutphin, is a rollicking adventure that will keep kids entertained as Isaiah navigates backyards, garbage cans, and crumb cakes on kitchen counters. Before long, he meets a mouse named Mikayla, who has a lovely singing voice (and whom Isaiah just might have a certain fondness for), and she introduces him to her mischief, which is what a family of mice is fittingly called. (Really! The English language is full of amusements.)
Isaiah also befriends a lonely little girl named Hailey, who has a hard time at school, where she is called names because of her white hair and eyelashes. The pair bonds over their love of pastries, including Entenmann’s Ultimate Crumb Cake, and their feelings of being outcasts in their respective worlds.
Though Isaiah thrives in his adopted mischief, where his confidence and courage are boosted from battling against a devilish hairless cat aptly named Lucifer, and from devising the idea to use cutlery to rescue a fellow mouse from a lethal trap, he still misses his original family. Ultimately, Isaiah has to decide how he, one little blue mouse, can rescue them from the terrible experimental laboratory, which he calls the Horrible Place. Can he enlist the help of his new friends? Does he trust them enough to talk to them about what he has been through?
Even reluctant middle grade readers won’t want to put this one down. Written from a mouse’s perspective, it is filled with insights about how big the world is to a very small creature, as well as how mice are viewed by humans and other animals. It may also challenge kids to research and ask questions about cruelty to animals, and what products are tested on animals and why. The best part of the book is watching Isaiah, a little mouse with the heart of a lion, lead the way by treating others as he wants to be treated and by leaving no mouse behind, despite the persistent fears he must overcome. Isaiah sticks to his promises because, as he informs us, once given, a mouse’s word can’t be broken. A nice reminder for us humans, too—thanks, Isaiah.
What are your kids favorite James Patterson books for young readers?