Big Squeak, Little Squeak,Used

From Booklist Ages 4^6. Convinced that there must be more to life than watching TV and eating cheese curls, two mice, aptly named Big Squeak and Little Squeak, embark on a trip to the cheese store. Mr. Kit Kat, proprietor, greedily awaits their arrival in the hope of adding them to the other mouse shoppers already imprisoned in his basement. This time, however, his prey isn't so easily captured, and it's Kit Kat who ultimately finds himself on someone else's dinner menu. O'Malley's pictures turn the rather bland story into a rousing melodrama, and although his mice, decked out in ties and crisp white shirts, are not your usual sweetfaced children'sbook rodents, O'Malley's cat, with squinty eyes and twirly moustachewhiskers, is a perfect textbook villain. Stephanie Zvirin Product Description Two mice have a dangerous encounter when they venture into a cheese shop run by Mr. Kit Kat From Publishers Weekly Big Squeak and Little Squeak, a sort of mouse version of Beavis and Butthead, are finally overcome by the tedium of watching mouse cartoons on TV and eating cheese curls, and make an excursion to a local cheese shop. The good news: everything inside the shop is free. The bad news: the proprietor is a hungry cat, and he soon has Little Squeak in his clutches. The two save themselves as well as other prisoners of the evil cat, but after beginning with so much promise, the story resolves in a way that feels hasty and perfunctory (the cat rushes out of the store as soon as he hears Big Squeak speak in a scary voice). O'Malley's (Cinder Edna; Rollercoaster) richly textured mixedmedia illustrations are a different story, however. Whether depicting Big Squeak and Little Squeak's couchpotato ennui or a raucous celebration of liberated mice, his pictures combine a compelling intensity of composition with a droll wit that both children and adults can appreciate. Ages 36. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library Journal PreSchoolGrade 2?Positive that there is more to life than eating cheese curls and watching cartoons, Big Squeak and Little Squeak set out on an adventure. Looking for a tasty treat, they wander into Mr. Kit Kat's cheese store, where all of the items are free. When Little Squeak is captured by the proprietor, Big Squeak comes up with a plan that saves his friend and releases a crew of captive rodents. Justice is served as Mr. Kit Kat flees from his shop and wanders into Mr. Woof Woof's fish store. Kraus uses simple language to tell this fastpaced tale, peppering the text with flashes of humor. The mice are appealingly gullible and the cat is wonderfully menacing. There are a few good lines, such as the description of a celebration where there was "...a whole lot of squeaking going on." O'Malley's mixedmedia illustrations are amusing and actionpacked. The drawings are bold and uncluttered and the artist's use of perspective makes the characters' expressive faces pop right off the page. Visual details, such as a mouseear TV antenna and endpapers decorated with closeups of cheese curls and cheese, complete the package. Kids will eat this one up.?Joy Fleishhacker, New York Public LibraryCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.