Two Mice by Sergio Ruzzier (A Letter for Leo) is a storybook--masquerading as a counting book--that proves sometimes two is just the right number for one adventure.
This appealingly small book counts only up to three and then back down to one, but counting is just part of the fun. It's also a cleverly unfolding, happy-ending story of mouse mishaps. The design is simply ingenious: even before the title page, readers see "One house" accompanied by a picturesque house, in soft lines awash in cheerful watercolors. The title-page spread reads "TWO MICE," which is the book's title and the plain fact: we see two white, pink-nosed mice, one with distinguishing brown spots, each with a little iron bed in a colorful tile-floored room. One more page turn leads to "Three cookies": there are two cookies in front of one giddy, cookie-gobbling mouse, and only one in front of the understandably disgruntled mouse. The mice transcend the injustice, and are soon off on a boating junket. But in a "Three boats/Two oars" scenario, there can only be "One rower." Then, readers learn the hard lesson that sometimes it takes only three rocks to put two holes in a boat, causing one shipwreck. The unlucky duo nearly become eagle food, but preschoolers need not panic... sometimes two mice just need one escape. Three cheers! In the happy ending, the two mice are safely home, making one soup.
The inventively undulating narrative structure, the sherbet-like color palette, fantastic tile floors, countless tiny visual surprises--and last but not least, the comfortingly resilient mouse friendship--make Two Mice a standout. --Karin Snelson, children's editor, Shelf Awareness