ORRIS AND TIMBLE

In this opener to a planned trilogy, a mousetrap nailed to a barn floor brings a solitary old rat and a story-loving owl together.

Orris the rat seems quite comfortable nested amid his gathered treasures, which include a special marble, a cozy red velvet slipper, and a sardine can with the phrase “Make the good and noble choice!!” That pesky moral imperative proves its worth when, after crawling out to investigate a cry for help, Orris finds himself, against his better judgment, negotiating with a trapped young owl named Timble by telling him part of the story of the Lion and the Mouse and then actually helping to free the owl’s trapped claw. Afterward, to his surprise and pleasure, not only does Orris remain uneaten but Timble reappears with both a butterscotch candy as a thank-you gift and a request for more stories. Though DiCamillo only hints at the feelings of loneliness, terror, relief, and joy concealed beneath Orris’ crotchety exterior, readers will see these emotions clearly enough in the sparely written narrative. Mok does the same with her nocturnal views of the hunched, drably hued little rat lounging in his slipper or tiptoeing gingerly over a shadowy wooden floor strewn with tufts of hay toward a huge, brilliantly white, initially terrifying foe who turns out to be young, scared, and not at all as predatory as his appearance suggests.

A simple tale about looking beneath surfaces that’s as sweet as butterscotch candy.