Town Mouse Country Mouse

by Jan Brett, Jan Brett (Illustrator)

Overview

A story filled with suspense and humor, this classic tale of a town mouse and a country mouse takes a new twist in the imaginative and talented hands of Jan Brett. She introduces two engaging mouse couples eager to get away from their everyday lives. But when they agree to swap homes, they find unexpected adventures around every corner. Lush green scenes alternate with the elegant details of a fine Victorian townhouse to make a sumptuous and stunning picture book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399226229
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	08/28/1994
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.75(w) x 10.63(h) x 0.35(d)
Lexile:	AD530L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

With over thirty four million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation's foremost author illustrators of children's books. Jan lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up. During the summer her family moves to a home in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.

As a child, Jan Brett decided to be an illustrator and spent many hours reading and drawing. She says, "I remember the special quiet of rainy days when I felt that I could enter the pages of my beautiful picture books. Now I try to recreate that feeling of believing that the imaginary place I'm drawing really exists. The detail in my work helps to convince me, and I hope others as well, that such places might be real."

As a student at the Boston Museum School, she spent hours in the Museum of Fine Arts. "It was overwhelming to see the room-size landscapes and towering stone sculptures, and then moments later to refocus on delicately embroidered kimonos and ancient porcelain," she says. "I'm delighted and surprised when fragments of these beautiful images come back to me in my painting."

Travel is also a constant inspiration. Together with her husband, Joe Hearne, who is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Jan visits many different countries where she researches the architecture and costumes that appear in her work. "From cave paintings to Norwegian sleighs, to Japanese gardens, I study the traditions of the many countries I visit and use them as a starting point for my children's books."

Editorial Reviews

An entertaining romp providing much to savor.

Horn Book

A truly delightful book.

Children's Book Review Schedule

In a starred review, PW called this a "rich interpretation of a timeless fable. The text conveys the culture gap between the mice with a good deal of humor; the art brims with droll details." Ages 5-8. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly