Both a lighthearted entreaty for benevolent human-mouse relations and a tribute to Dorothy Lathrop (who won the first Caldecott Medal for Animals of the Bible
) and her sister Gertrude, Spohn's (the Turtle and Snake series) latest title stars a mouse named Lucy, the "youngest and most adventuresome" in her family. Lucy has her eye on a blue house reputedly inhabited by two animal-loving sisters, not-so-coincidentally named Dorothy and Gertrude: "Lucy decided this
was where she wanted to live." When the sisters discover Lucy, they take her back outside. " 'This is where you belong, free in the woods. Now don't you come back!' Lucy didn't understand a word they said. She thanked them for bringing her out to her family." Lucy returns with her mousey siblings to pose as artists' models and eat fresh-baked cookies. Ultimately, the sisters come to accept their new rodent residents. Spohn does not pay tribute to the artists' styles but instead adopts a simple theme and approach that harks back to classic picture books. She uses blocks of smeary oil paints to create the happy habitat, and the pudgy mice that parade across each page, composed of just a few brushstrokes, emanate cheerful innocence through the scant lines that form their limbs and self-assured smiles. Ages 4-8. (June)
