cover image The Greentail Mouse

The Greentail Mouse

Leo Lionni. Alfred A. Knopf, $15.95 (28pp) ISBN 978-0-375-82399-2

A city mouse explains Mardi Gras to a group of country mice and they decide to stage their own celebration, complete with wild animal masks, in The Greentail Mouse by Leo Lionni. In a wordless spread, the artist indicates the mice's personalities transformed into the ferocious beasts with dark shades of gray and brown-a fitting juxtaposition to the holiday's otherwise festive tones.