Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears Hardcover – Picture Book, September 9, 2008

Emily Gravett always surprises us with an entertaining story. I always like to look at and read her books, even if only to observe her rich and imaginative illustrations. I think we - the adults must be enjoying her books even more than kids because we are familiar with all the oddities described in them and therefore perceive them as funny and entertaining. On the other hand Emily Gravett has a good sense of what children need to be comforted when in need, or to overcome their fears or just to discover some unexplainable natural phenomena (e.g. why some birds adopt a "foreign" egg (The Odd Egg), why's the cat afraid of dogs (Dogs) etc.).When I first saw Little Mouses's Big Book of Fears I immediately fell in love with it. It is funny, educative, but also warm and kind. This handbook uses simple oil-based pencil drawings and hand writings together with several kind of mixed-media collages from found objects to take us on a journey trough the extensive list of mouse's fears from achnophobia (the fear of spiders) to sciaphobia (the fear of shadows) only to show us that everyone, even the bravest person, is scared of something and that we are not alone with our phobia. Not only that it describes each phobia, it also provides an opportunity to the fearful that he draws and verbally expresses his fear, and thereby overcomes it, as Emily says: "A fear faced is a fear defeated." I also think that even if the kids cannot grasp the latin name for the listed anxieties there's a point for it: when you name your anxiety it immediately becomes familiar to you and therefore it's unkown component is reduced. The end suprises us with a twist: even if the mouse is very small and he's practically affraid of everything, there is also someone who is afraid of him.The book gives you an opportunity to openly talk to your child about what scares him most, how does he feel about it, does he have any troubles because of it. When you two will be discovering its fold outs, torn pages and flap lifts the kid will likely start talking about his fears even without asking him. I can only recommend it to everyone - young or adult - who is dealing with an anxiety of some kind.

What a treat for children and adults, alike!! Little Mouse facing all its phobias! Love how the author incorporated cut-out pages, nibbled edges! The spider showing through the nibbled-out page for arachnophobia right at the beginning hooked me!! Mrs. Sabatier (!), the woman who was illustrated in the newspaper columns as the perp of the Three Blind Mice (actually known by another name, but I won’t give EVERYTHING away here) losing their tails sent me over the edge in laughter!!! Loved it so much I had to buy one for my 40 year old nephew - a clinical psychologist with a wacky sense of humor like his nutty aunt!! Beautiful!!!!

I received this book extremely quickly and it exceeded my expectations. Lovely story, beautiful illustrations.

My 6 year old liked this story, especially the humor in it. My 8 year old said he learned some new words from it. They especially liked the pictures.

Emily Gravett is amazing. This is a book that can help heal the little and big anxieties that sometimes trouble our children and us as well. I send a thank you to the author. Everyone should have it.

The book came as described and on time. I think this is a really cute book for kids. It's a fun way to start talking about fears and how everyone has fears.

Really a great book for kids with fears. They're all in there. My daughter loves it knowing she's not the only one afraid of the dark.

It is really difficult to figure out what this book is. It's not the type of book that you necessarily sit down and read; it's the type of book that you appreciate for its visuals and its subtle play on words with images. I seem to enjoy the book much more than my daughter, so I'm not even sure it can be classified as a children's book.Each page is devoted to a fear, using the lengthy scientific term for the fear. It explains what the fear is, and then the page contains images, items, or text associated with that fear, from the perspective of the mouse. Some of the images are very abstract, and therefore most children would miss the fun play-on-words present in this book. My daughter, who is 7, was shocked by the page devoted to "fear of knives", which used the nursery rhyme "Three Blind Mice" to get the point across. There's a lot on that page, though, and plenty to look at, but not necessarily appropriate for younger children. In fact, parts of this book are so abstract that it's hard to determine what age range is appropriate -- it depends on the child and how much that child can appreciate art.The book, however, is a work of art, and I'm personally impressed. Some of the pages are cut specifically to match the artwork - so you can view an image on the page underneath, for example. One page has a hole punched through it, while another has edges or corners cut off. On other pages, there are additional pieces pasted to the pages -- postcards, newspaper clippings, maps, etc. A map in particular is fascinating, extremely detailed, and entertaining -- it looks like a map of England, but instead is a map of a mouse, where body parts and organs appear as cities, roads, and islands. All of the artwork brings the book together -- and after a while, you may actually start to feel like you are reviewing somebody's journal, treating it with care as you turn the pages and unfold some of the attached items. The book's pages are extremely thick and should resist wear.Although I enjoy this book, I don't think it is something my daughter will pick up on her own. It's really the type of book that you share -- pointing out to each other the odd things that appear on the pages. It could use more text and a bit more dialogue, and therefore remains just an interesting concept.

This book helped my grandson define and fight his greats. Bravo!

My 7 yr old still loves it, it has holes and bitten pages, as if a mouse has really eaten it,

En ingles, lo tengo igual en español, Perfecto. Genial .Muy indicado para edades entre 4 y 10 años . A mis hijos les ha gustado mucho. Las ilustraciones son realmente preciosas

I really love this book. It is just delightful from start to finish.It will have readers of all ages enthralled and covers so many areas.The first really appealing thing about it is the details- with cut out maps , newspaper cuttings, handwritten scribbles and pop ups you dont know what each page will hold. You really go on a journey with poor little mouse- finding out about all different types of fears- which allow kids to explore their own. Its an ideal book for kids to read on their own or with adults.The drawings are lovely and you really feel like you have found mouses handwritten journal.Its also a great stepping stone for kids to create their own fear diaries .I am a childrens counsellor and love this book- even as a 36 adult I find it delightful and would recommend it to everyone.Just make sure you buy the hardback version for all the extra touches. You can read it again and again as there is so much detail you will always find something new. One of the best books out their.

Unique Illustrations, fun book to read. My 6 yr old loves it...coz it gives her lil spooky feeling.