Halloween Mouse

Written by Philip Roy

Illustrated by Lisa Ferguson

Ronsdale Press

978-1-55380-653-0

32 pp.

Ages 2-6

October 2021

 

If the leaves are falling, then Halloween is on the horizon. Undoubtedly many children are already gearing up for the trick-or-treat holiday of costumes and candy, but there's one little mouse named Happy who's just learning of the spooky event and is ready to embrace it completely. 

From Halloween Mouse by Philip Roy, illus. by Lisa Ferguson

When Happy the Pocket Mouse, John's enduring purple-hued murine friend, sees the leaves falling and an elderly neighbour decorating her house with ghosts and such, he does what he always does: asks lots of questions. 

"Well, they dress up and go door-to-door to ask for treats."

"That sounds boring, John! I'm glad we don't do that. What are treats?"

"Candy."

"Candy? Treats are candy?"

Of course, with the intensity of a youngster, Happy decides they should dress up and go out for Halloween. Unfortunately, John is reluctant, claiming he's too old. But Happy, through a series of pointed questions, gets John to relent–after all, you're never too old for candy!–and helps with some surprise face-painting to make John scary-looking.

From Halloween Mouse by Philip Roy, illus. by Lisa Ferguson

Eager and impatient, Happy prods John into heading out before all the candy is gone. But being an adult going trick-or-treating, an activity generally limited to youth, John is not always welcomed with enthusiasm and is often questioned.

From Halloween Mouse by Philip Roy, illus. by Lisa Ferguson

Still, the friends return home with a cornucopia of candy and Happy dives in a little too enthusiastically, as children often do, and needs to recover while John discovers the nature of his disguise.

When Philip Roy introduced young readers to Happy the Pocket Mouse in Mouse Tales (2014), he gave us a unique friendship as the basis for positive messages about curiosity, adaptation, and sharing. John may act like the adult or even parent in the relationship, trying to educate Happy and help him understand so much of the human world but he's so much more, mixing companion, sidekick, and mentor into a congenial sage. And Happy is the bright spot of inquisitiveness and heart, eager to learn and experience new things, but always with John by his side for guidance.

This is the first Happy the Pocket Mouse book to be illustrated by Ontario's Lisa Ferguson (https://studioferguson.com/) who emulates the characters and landscapes of the original books with dexterity and feeling. Happy is still sweet and innocent and John is insightful and warm-hearted. Their touching relationship and honest explorations are portrayed with gentle colours and soft lines, even as related to potentially scary Halloween. 

 

But Halloween is anything but scary, something Happy is often concerned about, with Halloween Mouse because Philip Roy's words and Lisa Ferguson's art have given us the sweetness of a chocolate bar and the amusement that comes with dressing up wrapped up in a special friendship that the very young will appreciate. And, of course, there is candy!

🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃

There are now five books in the Happy the Pocket Mouse series from Philip Roy. Books 1 through 4 were illustrated by Andrea Torrey Balsara with Lisa Ferguson doing the artwork for Book 5.

Mouse Tales (2014)

Jellybean Mouse (2014)

Mouse Pet (2015)

Mouse Vacation (2016)

Halloween Mouse (2021)

Mouse Vacation

by Philip Roy

Illustrated by Andrea Torrey Balsara

Ronsdale Press

978-1-55380-479-6

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

October 2016

Compromise is tough enough between humans.  Imagine trying to compromise with an adorable mouse who has great imagination and wanderlust but no sense of distance or costs.  Happy the Pocket Mouse has decided the solution to a case of the boredom blues is for him and his human, John, to go some where.

For John, though, going somewhere usually means someplace close to home, like the store or the park.  But Happy has other ideas, and he has lots of them.  So, John recommends that they each make a list of places they’d like to go.  John is thinking the woods and the river, but Happy’s thinking the Taj Mahal and New Zealand.

Finally John introduces the idea of compromise, a meeting in the middle, which Happy jumps on, proposing meeting in Egypt, or Paris or even New York City, all of which John nixes based on cost.  John’s suggestion about an overnight bus ride to the nearest city to see the Tall Ships finally grabs Happy’s attention, especially John’s description of them as “ghosts from the past” (pg. 23).  Still, finally settling down for the night, the excited little mouse checks with John about one potential stop on the way home!

From Mouse Vacation 

by Philip Roy, illus. by Andrea Torrey Balsara

I’ve reviewed every Happy the Pocket Mouse story that Philip Roy and Andrea Torrey Balsara have created: Mouse Tales (Ronsdale, 2014); Jellybean Mouse (Ronsdale, 2014); and Mouse Pet (Ronsdale, 2015).  The foundation of each picture book is the endearing relationship between John and Happy.  John is like the laid-back best friend/dad who radiates subtle wisdom and empathy while Happy is this adorable, adorable innocent whose heart is filled with love and mind brims with imagination.  (I love the sweetness of his response to John’s suggestions: “That’s okay, John, we’ll just go somewhere else”; pg. 5) By having John and Happy working out what it means to take a vacation and finding a way to compromise, Philip Roy has again produced a charming life lesson in a story book.  And Andrea Torrey Balsara flawlessly brings the story to visual completion, ensuring John looks like the man who is wise and caring and Happy is effusive with sweetness and virtue.  But, this time, Philip Roy’s story allows Andrea Torrey Balsara to create wild backgrounds for Happy: on a cow at the Taj Mahal, roasting a marshmallow over a candle while camping, riding a camel in Egypt, or sporting an “I ❤︎ NY” T-shirt.  Still, the magic is in the collaboration, between the text and illustration and between John and Happy.  That's what makes the story, and Philip Roy and Andrea Torrey Balsara have done it again, blending the two into a story of adventure for the mind, the heart and the soul.

From Mouse Vacation 

by Philip Roy, illus. by Andrea Torrey Balsara

Mouse Pet

by Philip Roy

Illustrated by Andrea Torrey Balsara

Ronsdale Press

978-1-5530-443-7

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

September 2015

Happy the Pocket Mouse, introduced in Mouse Tales (2014) and revisited in Jellybean Mouse (2014), is back in his third adventure and this time he wants to share his happiness with a pet that he and his human John could take for walks and pat.

John listens to the little mouse’s wish and all the fun Happy is sure will be theirs but helps him to understand the significant responsibilities required of pet care.  In fact, Happy decides they should get a goat–even naming it Lola–and has an answer to every objection John makes. Fortunately, and with much affection, John suggests an alternative and one that makes everyone happy!

Happy the Pocket Mouse has a heart full of love and he shares it so completely with John that it only makes sense that he extend that love to another and maybe even another.  The dialogue that Philip Roy has created between Happy and John is so endearing and honest that the reader will feel privileged to eavesdrop on their affection and tender conversation.  With so much caring and compassion, you know that the resolution to their pet discussion will be a sweet one.

The text is so appealing and yet concise and emotive, and the illustrations by Andrea Torrey Balsara are just as charming.  It’s like drinking hot cocoa and eating sweet treats.  The anticipation is just as wonderful as the consumption and you’re left with a warm feeling of goodness and sweetness and look forward to another helping soon enough.

Jellybean Mouse

Written by Philip Roy

Illustrated by Andrea Torrey Balsara

Ronsdale Press

978-1-55380-344-7

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

September, 2014

I fell in love with Happy the Pocket Mouse when he first appeared in Philip Roy's Mouse Tales (Ronsdale, 2014) and I continue to delight in the tender-hearted relationship between this quirky-whiskered and curious mouse and his housemate, John.

In Jellybean Mouse, Happy is seriously bored but the only exciting adventure on their agenda that day is a trip to the laundromat to wash clothes i.e., not very exciting at all. Happy goes along with John but sees the potential for excitement all along the way: at the bowling alley, the skating rink, and the grocery store.  But, of course, John keeps them on course, regardless of Happy's relentless queries.

Ah, but the laundromat offers a wonderful new option: a jellybean machine.  And though Happy must deal with a few obstacles, his determination is interminable.  He's a curious child who asks, wonders, listens, and ponders, and looks for a way to get what he wants without being selfish or breaking the rules.  Happy's innocence and positive attitude provide him with the hope to find something good in just about anything, and Philip Roy's words share that unpretentiousness superbly.  Honestly, Happy is that precious.

Jellybean Mouse is the simple story of a guardian and his ward, albeit a man and a mouse, and the pure, uncomplicated life they lead, finding joy in the simple pleasures.  Philip Roy gives John and Happy the perfect compassionate relationship to which most of us could only aspire.  And Andrea Torrey Balsara continues to provide the only illustrations that could epitomize John and Happy: the calm, steadfastness of John and the thoughtful, inquisitive Happy.  I don't know whether it's her palette of colours (Happy has a lovely mauve hue to his fur) or the straggly nature of her lines, as in Happy's whiskers, or the softness of John's eyewear and Happy's roundish belly and massive, interested eyes.  All I know is that, courtesy of Philip Roy and Andrea Torrey Balsara, Happy is now as firmly entrenched in my heart as he wanted to be in that jellybean machine.

Mouse Tales

by Philip Roy

Art by Andrea Torrey Balsara

Ronsdale Press

978-1-55380-262-4

32 pp.
Ages 4-8

February, 2014

Happy the Pocket Mouse, the star of Philip Roy's new picture book series from Ronsdale Press, doesn't seem very happy when he can't sleep and insists that he would fall asleep very quickly if John, his human friend, would just tell him a bedtime story.  With the love of a parent or caregiver, John awakens (okay, Happy does have to open his eyelid) and considers the best story to tell, without frightening Happy.  He starts with the story of Hansel and Gretel, providing answers to Happy's multitude of questions and comments e.g., "How poor were they?" "That's not scary." "She made her house out of GINGERBREAD and CANDY?" Although he's being very brave and inquisitive, Happy is shocked to learn that witches keep spooky things like mouse tails in little jars. Well, Happy's very ready to go to sleep then (or at least end that story) but he has more questions, to which the answers are even more unsettling.  So our adorable little rodent, with the incessant questions, clever ideas and passive determination (really!), finds the means to sleep, albeit with a few detours.

Happy and John take me back to the days of Topo Gigio snuggling up to "Eddie" on The Ed Sullivan Show*, though I see a compassionate John Lennon in Mouse Tales' John. (Is the same name just a coincidence?)  The repartee Philip Roy has penned between the two is brisk, endearing and expressive, and never will the reader believe there is anything but love between these two individuals. And Andrea Torrey Balsara, a new illustrator definitely to watch in youngCanLit, gets the right mix of sweetness and reality, never going saccharine on the characters or the setting.

I love Mouse Tales and look forward to reading it to my kindergarten students, luckily never close enough to bedtime for them to adopt Happy's concerns.  But I especially look forward to more adventures in the Happy the Pocket Mouse series, knowing that the collaboration between Philip Roy and Andrea Torrey Balsara is marked for great youngCanLit success.

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* If you're too young to remember Topo Gigio, check out the first 30 seconds of the YouTube video at http://youtu.be/QjkElT5w6AE.