Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Anatole
Illustrator: Paul Galdone
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 6
Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1981 ISBN: 978-0375839016
Anatole is a very contented mouse who lives with his wife and his six children in a mouse village just outside the city of Paris. Every evening Anatole and the other mice husbands and fathers leave the village to get food for their families in Paris. One night Anatole and his partner Gaston are in a human house when Anatole overhears a conversation that the humans are having. He discovers that humans despise mice. They think that mice are pests, and that every mouse is a "villain."
Poor Anatole gets very upset when he hears this. How can he hold up his head with pride if the humans have such a low opinion of him and all his kind? Anatole decides that he has to do something for the humans to prove that mice are not just dirty pawed thieves. And so he finds a job, a job he is very well suited to.
This wonderful story will delight children who have a fondness for mice tales. With its wonderful Gallic flavor and its meaningful message - that treats need to be earned - this is a picture book that has stood the test of time beautifully.
This book was one of the Caldecott Honor titles in 1957.
