The Mouse Mansion

by Karina Schaapman

Overview

Beatrix Potter meets I Spy in this detailed and charming storybook adventure

Best friends Julia and Sam are mice who live in the Mouse Mansion.  When they’re together they find all sorts of adventures—and all kinds of trouble!

Come with them as they discover a secret hiding place, greet the ragman, and learn to make pancakes. There is a shop that sells everything and a box full of treasure. And—oh no!—there might even be a rat!  The Mouse Mansion is always full of surprises.

Author and artist Karina Schaapman spent years building and furnishing the Mouse Mansion in which this collection of stories takes place.  The elaborate dollhouse is made of cardboard boxes and papier-mâché and contains more than one hundred rooms to explore.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803740495
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	11/13/2014
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	10.40(w) x 12.80(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Karina Schaapman is a politician and writer. She lives in Amsterdam, Holland, with her family. The Mouse Mansion is her debut children’s book.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

* "Schaapman's ingenious miniature interiors are certain to captivate all ages." - Kirkus Reviews, starred review

• "Dollhouse aficionados will be thunderstruck by Schaapman’s engrossing debut, a room-by-room exploration of an actual mansion built to the scale of tiny gray cloth mice...the lived-in space—no fancy upper-class dollhouse—recalls Dickens’s London or, given Schaapman’s home city, Rembrandt’s Amsterdam. The mice lead humble, contented lives, and their mansion is sure to astonish." - Publishers Weekly, starred review

Editorial Reviews

Frankly, things don’t get much cozier than The Mouse Mansion, an enchanting oversize book filled with pictures of undersize wonders."—The Wall Street Journal

* "Schaapman's ingenious miniature interiors are certain to captivate all ages."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* "Dollhouse aficionados will be thunderstruck by Schaapman’s engrossing debut...The mice lead humble, contented lives, and their mansion is sure to astonish."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 2014-09-14
In 17 episodes, two winsome, knitted mice—best friends Sam and Julia—explore the thriving, multistory apartment community where they both live. Dutch artist Schaapman's extraordinary construction, 6 feet wide and towering nearly 10 feet tall, plays the deservedly starring role here, as photographed by Ton Bouwer. The two mice's everyday adventures take them to the recycling room, where they help the Ragman during his weekly pickup, and the bakery, where their dime buys a bagful of delicious if broken cookies. They help with Sam's new triplet siblings as well as the laundry (working together to neatly quell the foamy chaos that results when Julia uses too much soap). Julia lives with her mom; their small apartment's rough basics contrast with Sam's extended family's comfortable digs. Julia's weeklong bout with chicken pox (the spots are, rather charmingly, embroidered on) illuminates her mother's loving care. A later visit to Sam's aunt's family for dinner on the Jewish Sabbath further expands Julia's cultural understanding. In turn, Julia's venturesome nature, steadfast friendship and predilection for "big adventures" help Sam to overcome his shyness and fears. Schaapman's ingenious miniature interiors are certain to captivate all ages. From tiny wooden toys and well-scaled textiles to Sam's grandpa's faded sailor tattoos, the thoroughgoing attention to detail consistently fascinates. A community in miniature, fully realized and elucidated by sensitive storytelling. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews