Country Mouse Cottage: How We Lived 100 Years Ago

Country Mouse Cottage: How We Lived 100 Years Ago

From School Library Journal Kindergarten-Grade 3-Country life circa 1900 is depicted in lovely detail from a mouse's-eye view. The simple account is related by young Edward Country Mouse, who describes the routines of everyday rural life from sunrise to sunset. Readers learn about the gentle rhythms of this bucolic existence including chores such as chopping wood, stoking a stove, doing laundry, and gardening. Edward Mouse also devotes pages to his one-room schoolhouse, playtime, and evening pastimes. Endearing watercolor illustrations give general views of the day's activities and present close-ups of objects relevant to the tasks at hand. These items and implements function as delightful borders and frames, and the creative layout and quaint typeface give the appearance of a child's scrapbook from an earlier time. While the book presents an overly sanguine picture of country life by omitting many of its hardships, it does serve as an introduction to farm life a century ago. A sweet, quiet offering appropriate for one-on-one sharing.Rosalyn Pierini, San Luis Obispo City-County Library, CA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. On a summer day in 1900 a family of mice is busy from dawn until dusk at their country home. From Booklist Ages 4-7. In the authors' Town Mouse House [BKL My 1 00], John Town Mouse introduced children to his family's comfortable city home circa 1900. In this book, originally published in England, it's Edward Country Mouse who's giving a tour. Detailed illustrated spreads show a typical day in the life of a rural family of the time, which is described as a lively narrative story--a sort of mousterpiece theater. Readers will peek into the kitchen, laundry room, bed, bathroom, and even the schoolroom, with appropriate objects drawn and labeled around the text. The cozy watercolor illustrations which evoke Beatrix Potter's world and the many miniature images will entrance the dollhouse set. Informative and fun for browsing. Gillian EngbergCopyright