Seven Little Mice Go to School

Assuaging the anxieties of one first-time student is tough enough, let alone seven. In this story, first published in Japan in 1981, an industrious mouse mother hatches a plan for getting her septuplets to school, rolling out two lines of yarn along the path through the woods. In the morning, she announces, "All aboard!" and the seven curious mice line up, with the yarn becoming the train tracks. Along the way, the "Mouse Train" picks up more "passengers," and the mice even scare off a snake. This story about finding creative solutions unfolds with understated elegance%E2%80%94and for a 30-year-old story, it holds up. Ages 3%E2%80%93up. (July)