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Need a House? Call Ms. Mouse!

Need a House? Call Ms. Mouse!

by George Mendoza, illustrated by Doris Susan Smith

$18.95
$18.95
Ages 3–7 American Literature Children's Literature
Format

Henrietta is a world-famous architect, and the only mouse in the world who knows what makes a squirrel or a rabbit, a caterpillar or a frog feel at home. A dreamer, a designer, an artist, and a creator, Henrietta works at her drawing board to imagine the perfect home for each of her friends, be they woodland, water, subterranean or winged creatures.

With clever features, like a trapdoor for Mole or a telescope platform for Owl, and the ideal placement, like high in a pine for Squirrel or inside a pear for Caterpillar, Henrietta Mouse’s houses are both practical and beautiful—in short, ingenious!

George Mendoza’s Need a House? Call Ms. Mouse! is as inspiring today as when it was first published in 1981, and Doris Susan Smith’s illustrations of this hard-working female protagonist and her fantastical designs and architectural marvels will captivate young readers.

Additional Book Information

Series: NYRB Kids
ISBN: 9781681377360
Pages: 48
Publication Date:

Praise

Like Doris Burn’s 1965 classic “Andrew Henry’s Meadow,” this picture book plays to the special fondness children have for imagining the neat features they’d incorporate were they to build houses of their own.
—Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal

[Need a House? Call Ms. Mouse!] is an utter delight, a book that certain aesthetically oriented children will find endlessly fascinating, picking out detail after tiny detail in Ms. Mouse’s elegant designs for Squirrel, Fox, and Rabbit.
—Dan Kois, Slate “The 10 Best Literary Rediscoveries of 2023”

I love intricate pen work, and Doris Susan Smith delivers over and over again... As for kids, they can read through this and decide which of the houses they like best (and would like to live in someday). One of those books that makes me sad my kids are too old for picture books anymore. I would so read and reread this.
— Betsy Bird, Arts Fuse 8

Each dwelling is lovingly furnished down to the tiniest detail.
—The New York Times

Each house represents not just a life but also a lifestyle.
—Slate

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