by Moe Zilla

Created on: February 25, 2010   Last Updated: February 20, 2012

"A Moose is Not a Mouse," warns the title of Harold Berson's book. But it mostly tells the story of a city mouse - named Victor - who spends too much time dreaming about the rest of the world…and not enough time watching out for the cat! It's a funny story with a sophisticated tone.  And to help the story along, Berson also created some clever illustrations.

Victor reads books about other kinds of mice, but he also reads books about knights in armor on horseback. And then he imagines that he's a mouse in armor, wielding a sword, standing triumphantly after conquering a medieval cat. He asks himself whether it's a pig or a cow who says "oink oink oink" and rolls in the mud. And each time, Berson contributes a funny drawing to show what the confused mouse is thinking!

But Berson always draws the mouse - and his city - with some eye-catching ink-and-wash drawings. For example, to show the city's skyline, he creates a detailed sketch of the city's skyscraper's then tints them with different pastel colors - yellow, pink, tan, and green. Throughout the book he fills cartoonish lines with soft and attractive colors. And his ink drawings capture all the high style of a city apartment - including ornate furniture, attractive houseplants, and a pile of books.

In a subtle way, the book celebrates the joys of a cosmopolitan life in the city. Young readers will enjoy the fact that Victor is dreaming about the things that he's read - while they're laughing at Victor's confusion over different kinds of animals. And Victor also mulls things that he's learned from his wise Uncle Jack. Jack is even worldlier, because he who lives in the local library's foreign language department!

But when Victor hears Jack describing a moose, he decides it must be one of his relatives. (After all, "moose" and "mouse" sound alike!) And if a moose is strong and tall, then Victor reasons he can be strong and tall too. So he tromps over to the sleeping cat, and yanks off all of its whiskers.  And then he even bites the cat's tail!

It's a funny scene, but it wouldn't work without Berson's clever drawings. (He actually shows the mouse on the cat's shoulder, gallantly tugging at the whisker with tiny mouse arms…) There's four drawings which capture the cat's evolving reaction - startled, exasperated, angry, and then belligerent. And then a final drawing of Victor out of reach in his mouse hole - being scolded gently by his mother.

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