WEE AND THE WRIGHT BROTHERS

It’s wonderful to be a mouse in 1903, thinks Wee, who lives with his wife and two mousekins in a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, where they publish Mouse News for the mouse neighborhood: Wee writes the stories, Mama runs the printing press, and the youngsters sell the papers. Wee is intrigued by the flying machines the Wright brothers build, and when they pack the “Flyer” to go to Kitty Hawk, Wee declares he will go, too, for the greatest story ever. On the famous day, Wee slips into Orville’s pocket and has the adventure of his life. An author’s note verifies the existence of a mouse in the brothers’ camp as Orville’s notes mention a mouse that outwitted his cornbread-baited trap. Watercolor and pastel illustrations humorously provide mouse points of view. For a fun take-off on aviation history, pair this imaginative blend of historical fact and animal fiction with Pamela Duncan Edwards and Henry Cole’s The Wright Brothers (2003), where mice are comic observers of the event. (Picture book. 5-8)