Book Review- The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail

Greetings, faithful readers!

I’d like to apologize for not posting last week. I totally forgot with the holiday and then something happened and I was kind of an emotional mess. So, yeah. But, I’m back with another book review!

First of all, I think I should start by saying I’m not sure if I’m qualified to review this book. It’s very much in the children’s genre, while I read mostly YA these days. However, I had to read it for book club with week so last night I breezed through it.

The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail by Richard Peck is the story of a mouse who doesn’t know who he is. Like his tail, his life is punctuated by question marks about who he is, where he’s going, and what the purpose of his life is. He’s shipped off to school by his “aunt”- the woman who found him under a cabbage leaf as a baby and brought him home- and there he proceeds to learn- from important things like his numbers all the way to twelve and everything about the French Revolution to things like how to pick a fight and get your eye blackened by mice three or four times your size.

But then, our little mouse friend breaks two rules- when one would do- and he’s suddenly on the run, trying to find a place in the world that he can call his own. From the Royal Mews to Buckingham Palace, this mouse embarks on the adventure of a lifetime.

This book is told in very simplistic terms. Our mouse friend narrates as if he’s looking back on things and telling us how it all went down. There isn’t much action and the author has a nasty habit of telling us what is going to happen before it does- Little did I know my career was to last no longer than this day now ending.

However, in the end, this isn’t about how the story is told, it’s about the story- which is a simple little tale about someone trying to figure out who they are, where they’re going, and what the purpose of his life is. They’re questions I think we all face in life and while our answers never come as conveniently as this little mouse’s do, they’re questions children can relate to all the same.

While I didn’t particularly enjoy this book, I would definitely recommend it to younger readers looking for something easy to pass the time with. In, hopefully they’ll walk away with something more than just a bit of fun.

But, if they don’t, that’s okay too. Because a bit of good, clean fun is sometimes just what we need.

How about you? Have you heard of this book or others like it? What is your preferred age range to read?