Holiday Heartwarmers Miss Renee’s Mice

MISS RENEE’S MICE, by Elizabeth Stokes Hoffman, Down East Books, Camden, 2001, 32 pages, $15.95.

M-i-c-e spells trouble.

At least that’s what Miss Renee thinks when her barn blows down and the extended mice clan living there moves into her house.

This charming story by Elizabeth Stokes Hoffman of Putney, Vt., is based on a real-life Miss Renee from Kennebunk. Enhancing the tale are the delightful illustrations by Dawn Peterson of Falmouth, whose attention to tiny details makes each picture as fun to read as the story.

Miss Renee lives by the sea and makes dollhouses and all the things needed to fill the tiny homes. Life is quiet and, perhaps, a little dull.

One snowy night, a big storm hits, knocking down the barn, and by morning the mice are living in Miss Renee’s dollhouses. Out go the plastic doll families, in go the mice – the babies into the cradles, the adults into everything else.

The mice throw wild parties, keeping Miss Renee awake at night. So she plots and plans and then uses her skills to build a ship to send the mice away.

Only she finds that life is dull without the mice to live in her dollhouses and throw parties and read her miniature books and sleep in her miniature beds.

Months go by until one day Miss Renee sees a ship sailing toward her house. The mice have returned, bringing gifts from around the world for Miss Renee to use in building her dollhouses.

As a picture book, “Miss Renee’s Mice” is a standout.

The simple story is given depth by small touches in the illustrations, from the mouse juggling chocolate chips to the name of the vessel in which the mice sail away (The Good Riddance). The homey touches are familiar and comforting, from the pompom fringe on the curtains to the cobalt glass and seashells on the windowsill.

Children will get a taste of the exotic when the mice return from their round-the-world journey. Each mouse is clad in the native costume of the land from which its gift originated (I especially liked the fellow in the kilt complete with tartan socks and the little miss in the grass skirt and lei).

My biggest chuckle came on the last page. It’s a clever little note that adults will appreciate while it may teach one more lesson to children about being a good neighbor. It begins with “No endangered trees were cut down by the mice in this story” and it ends with a line about a yak.

You need to read it to believe it.

“Miss Renee’s Mice” also is available by mail for $15.95 plus $3.95 shipping and handling from Down East Books, (800) 685-7962 or www.downeastbooks.com.