5 Mousy Reads

This last week I've been hard at work on my writing, and while I've read through my 200-page manuscript at least twice, I'm not counting that. So . . . I have no page update this week! Eek.

For those of you wondering, the book I'm working on is a funny mystery called MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT. It's about a rat mistaken for a mouse and the secret society of classroom pets he meets at his new school. It'll be in bookstores in the fall of 2012. In the meantime, there have been a lot of new books starring mice lately! Even though my Malcolm is proud of his rattiness, if you're in a mousy mood, here are some new ones to check out:

Bless this mouse / Lois Lowry ; illustrations by Eric Rohmann.
by Lowry, Lois.
	Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011. Description:  151 p. : ill., map ; 21 cm. Summary:  Mouse Mistress Hildegarde musters all her ingenuity to keep a large colony of church mice safe from the exterminator and to see that they make it through the dangerous Blessing of the Animals.

A nest for Celeste : a story about art, inspiration, and the meaning of home / Henry Cole.
by Cole, Henry, 1955-
	Katherine Tegen Books, c2010. Edition:  1st ed. Description:  342 p. : ill. ; 19 cm. Summary:  Celeste, a mouse longing for a real home, becomes a source of inspiration to teenaged Joseph, assistant to the artist and naturalist John James Audubon, at a New Orleans, Louisiana, plantation in 1821.

Poppy and Ereth / Avi ; illustrated by Brian Floca.
by Avi, 1937-
	HarperCollinsPublishers, c2009. Edition:  1st ed. Description:  208 p. : ill. ; 22 cm. Summary:  After a long, hard winter in Dimwood forest, Poppy the deer mouse finds new adventure thrust upon her while rescuing Ereth the porcupine from the mud.

Tumtum & Nutmeg : adventures beyond Nutmouse Hall / stories by Emily Bearn ; with pictures by Nick Price.
by Bearn, Emily.
	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009. Edition:  1st U.S. ed. Description:  504 p. : ill. ; 21 cm. Summary:  Wealthy, married mice Tumtum and Nutmeg find adventure when they secretly try to help two human siblings who live in a tumbledown cottage with their absent-minded inventor father.

Young Fredle / Cynthia Voigt ; illustrated by Louise Yates.
by Voigt, Cynthia.
	Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Edition:  1st ed. Description:  227 p. : ill. ; 22 cm. Summary:  Fredle, a young mouse cast out of his home, faces dangers and predators outside, makes some important discoveries and allies, and learns the meaning of freedom as he struggles to return home.