Murine worrywart Mr. Murray, and happy-go-lucky free spirit Thumbkin, find themselves next-door-neighbors in this endearing picture-book, one living in a tidy teapot, the other in a large (and slowly decaying) pumpkin. As Mr. Murray worries about what Thumbkin will do, when his house falls apart around him, his neighbor sits back and relaxes, or, in a rare moment of industry, makes pumpkin cake out of a piece of his own home. When the inevitable finally happens, Mr. Murray has a solution - one that will benefit both mice...

Karma Wilson's tale, told in rhyming verse, is a contemporary take on the classic Aesopic fable of The Ant and the Grasshopper, with a much less grim outcome for the "grasshopper," and would make an admirable story-hour selection. The colored pencil illustrations by Ard Hoyt - whose other picture-book credits include John Lithgow's I'm a Manatee and Laurie Halse Anderson's The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School - capture the fun of the story, and the very different personalities of its two stars. I don't know that I felt as strongly about Mr. Murray and Thumbkin as the friend who recommended it to me, but I definitely found it a winsome little title, perfect for fall reading! ( )

Obsessive/Type A mouse meets Super relaxed/Live by the moment mouse. Despite their differences a friendship develops, Couldn't get the "odd couple" tune out of my head while reading this... ( )