MR. POSTMOUSE TAKES A TRIP

The dedicated postal worker who first appeared in Mr. Postmouse’s Rounds (2015) returns with his entire family for a much bigger adventure.

It’s time for the family to go on vacation, but if Mr. Postmouse’s local deliveries are any indication, it won’t be a lazy day at the beach. In fact, Mr. Postmouse, Mrs. Postmouse, and their three little mice travel the world, going from campsite to ocean cruise to desert oasis to city. In each location, Dubuc’s double-page spreads show cross sections of animals’ house interiors: there is a sloth’s treetop dwelling, a dragon’s volcano lair, and even a lizard’s cozy home inside a cactus. They’re rendered in careful, cute detail. It feels like a busy critter cast of thousands, making every page one to be examined for minutes at a time. A lot of the text, which serves mostly to explain each setting and move the family along, is perfunctory (“And then it’s a quick city stop!”). It’s the playful, witty worldbuilding drawings that do the heavy lifting and tell dozens of individual stories. By the time the Postmouses take to the skies in a hot air balloon, readers could be forgiven for being as exhausted as the family of mice, ready to return home. And that they do, having apparently brought home a penguin in a suitcase and lots of memories from around the world.

This one’s playfulness invites repeat readings, and like Mr. Postmouse, it delivers consistently.