TINY’S BIG ADVENTURE

Under the watchful eye of his big sister, a very small mouse ventures out into the wide world for the first time. Tiny is happy to have his sister Katy along, not only for games of climb-a-stalk and catch-me-mouse, but also to provide reassurance that, no, that’s not a cat, but a rabbit: not an owl, but a harmless pheasant. In digitally assembled vinyl cuts and watercolor washes, Lawrence uses strong lines with a limited palette to depict small but seemingly spot-lit mice scampering amid huge, mysterious-looking gold or grayish blue masses of wheat stalks, wildflowers, and farm equipment. Tiny suffers some anxious moments when he becomes separated from Katy—but she finds him soon enough, and as the two make their way back to the barn, Tiny is already talking about next time. Like Jane Simmons’s Come Along, Daisy (1998) or Waddell’s own Owl Babies (1992), illustrated by Patrick Benson, this makes comforting reading for timorous little mice of the two-legged sort. (Picture book. 3-5)