The Sleepy Dormouse

From School Library Journal\nPreSchool-Grade 2-Even though spring has arrived, a dormouse ignores the urgings of his harvest mice friends and continues to sleep. A weasel carries him home; puts him under a heavy flowerpot; and gives him a daily ration of nuts, seeds, and water to fatten him up for Sunday supper. The ever-caring harvest mice tell the dormouse to eat only the nuts and to plant the sunflower seeds. When they germinate and grow, the plants lift the pot up enough for him to be pulled to safety, and the hungry weasel has to content himself with an apple for dinner. Young readers will cheer at the ingenuity of the rescue, and will learn a good deal about the flora and fauna of these creatures' woodland home through Rowe's delicate watercolor paintings. The illustrations are large, well balanced with text and white space, and depict a pleasant world of winsome animals (even the predator in his battered green hat is not scary), lush plants, and tiny insects. Pair this story with Arnold Lobel's Mouse Soup (HarperCollins, 1977).
Marianne Saccardi, Whitby School American Montessori Center, Greenwich,
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.\nThe field mice try to thwart Scraggly Sam the weasel's plan to make a tasty meal out of a sleepy dormouse\nFrom Publishers Weekly\nIn this leisurely paced story, a hibernating dormouse resists the springtime reveille. Scraggly Sam, the local weasel, abducts the somnolent creature and stashes him under an inverted flower pot, where Sam fattens him up Hansel-and-Gretel-style by slipping sunflower seeds and hazelnuts through the pot's drain hole. At first the dormouse is delighted ("This is the life!") and ignores the warnings of the nearby harvest mice. But when the weasel pokes his captive to test for plumpness, the prisoner wakes up to reality. Acting on a plan devised by the harvest mice, he plants the sunflower seeds instead of eating them, and waters them with his daily ration. Soon the fast-growing stalks have lifted the pot off the ground, and the dormouse squeaks free (with a few tugs from his friends). Readers will recognize familiar flora and fauna in Rowe's superbly lit watercolors; the weasel, jauntily hatted in a floppy leaf pinned with a twig, is especially amusing. Ages 3-8.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.\nFrom Booklist\nAges 5-8. A beautifully illustrated picture book with elements that are classic and clever. A sleepy dormouse is captured by the weasel Scraggly Sam, who puts him under a heavy flowerpot and feeds him sunflower seeds to fatten him up. Warned about the weasel's diabolical dinner plans by the harvest mice, the captive dormouse plants his supper. The seeds, which quickly sprout into seedlings, grow into plants that lift the pot off the ground--and off he goes! The expansive watercolor compositions of the lush English countryside have realistic details, good use of light and shadow, sparkling colors, and variety in placement. Julie Corsaro