The Greentail Mouse by Leo Lionni

 




Title: The Greentail Mouse
Series: N/A
Author: Leo Lionni
Genre: Children’s Book, Picture Book
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers     
Received: Swap site
Release Date: 1973
Pages:32
Rating:
 

What is it About?
Little mice prepare for there first Mardi Gras in which they lose themselves while pretending to be monsters.

My Thoughts:

This book seems a little dark for a children’s book.  The mice prepare for there first Mardi Gras and make masks that look like monsters and forget they are mice and become the monsters.  

It seems the author is really either voicing his opinion of Mardi Gras or just thought of being careful not to lose yourself in something bad or I suppose both those things.   

Why it is called the Greentail Mouse is because one of the mice tail gets paint on it and it never can remove the paint.  A reminder that even if they forget that they were monsters once and to not to return to that way of being.

I think it is a good message in general I don’t know if it has to be applied to Mardi Gras as I have never participated in the event but I can see how it fits.

Website:

Random House ‘s Site for Lionni
http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/lionni/