Mini Grey's (Toys in Space; Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey) latest diminutive hero is not a toy, but rather an observant mouse who types up messages to reunite lost things with their owners.
The mouse narrator takes his name from the empty box of Hermelin cheese he sleeps in (a cheese rather like Camembert). The fact that he can read the cheese's name tips readers off that this is no ordinary rodent. The row houses in the opening scene introduce the residents of Offley Street, where Hermelin, with the aid of binoculars, detects all sorts of incidents, large and small. Children will madly flip back and forth from the "Offley Street Notices" bulletin board of missing items to that opening scene, to see where the various lost things went astray. There's Mrs. Mattison's missing black leather bag, a "vanished" diamond bracelet belonging to Lady Chumley-Plumley, Lucky the goldfish and Captain Potts's cat, Parsley. (Could these last two be linked?) Hermelin types up notes to the humans, pointing them to where they'll find their lost things, in a series of comics-style panels. At the climax, a just-in-time note helps the McMumbos rescue their baby from peril.
A thank-you gesture on the part of the Offley Street neighbors goes terribly wrong when the guest of honor shows up and residents don't recognize the valiant fellow for who he is. Grey's portrait of a lively city block chock full of hidden treasures will bring readers back again and again. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness