Daren King

Short and sweet, Mouse Noses on Toast is bound to have those of you with slightly twisted senses of humor laughing your noses off!

It only took me around a half hour to read, but it was a very happy half hour in which I laughed out loud many times. Mouses Noses introduces us to Paul Mouse who is allergic to, of all things, cheese. (It makes his bottom turn blue and his tail turn up like a question mark.)

He doesn't live with the other mice because of this, but instead spends his time with a show more Christmas tree angel named Sandra and the Tinby, a mysterious toy. He visits his mice friends in a plastic wrap suit, which they think is the height of mouse fashion.

After one particularly stressful visit in which Paul's fashionable suit fails to protect him, Sandra suggests that Paul, the Tinby, and the dog next door (Rowley Barker Hobbs) go get a nice, posh dinner. Instead, they discover the horror that is mouse noses on toast. While many mice think that it is a myth, like caviar or colorful parrot soup with extra beaky bits, it turn out that humans do eat this dreadful delicacy.

Can the mice stop this horror? When a slightly hippie activist mouse comes on the scene, and the Tinby goes in to battle mode, then maybe, just maybe, they can get to the bottom of this. If they can get anyone's attention, that is.

The humor here is, obviously, dark. I'm not going to make comparisons to Lemony Snicket in terms of writing or content, but I think those that enjoyed the macabre humor of the unfortunate series are bound to enjoy this little book. Although the reading level and length may be suited to slightly younger ages, the humor and subject matter of this book make it more likely to appeal to readers 10 - 12, and even more likely to appeal to adult readers of children's stories. There's a lot younger readers will miss. It would make a great read-aloud for younger kids, with you on hand to answer the inevitable questions, I think. show less

This is a case of a supporting character stealing the show: the Tinby is the most strange and wonderful character in the whole book.

Quotes

The Tinby thought too, but no one knew what it was thinking, as Tinbys think in colors and shapes. (9)

The Tinby was cool, so cool that it sometimes smelled of mint. (26)

...the Tinby, their Tinby...but there was a coldness in its eyes....It was a wild thing now, and would live alone in the brambles, guarding its medals and dancing its mad Tinby dance. show more (39-41)

"I wonder why it climbed in there," Paul said, scratching his ears. "Perhaps it thinks it's a cork."
Actually the Tinby thought it was a spaceship, but that is not why it was in the bottle. (52)

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Re-read w/ 3.5yo kid April 2019. She liked it but didn't quite make it all the way through. Still a clever story though. (And for those concerned, they aren't REALLY mouse noses on toast: they're bits of marzipan painted to look like noses, sold by mouses to humans, and the mouses are paid in cheddar cheese.) show less

Tabitha Tumbly, Charlie Vapor, and Wither spend there days with fellow ghosts trying to make nice with the humans (still-alives). Of course, every attempts fails, so they just try harder, even coming up with rules to greet the humans everyday, as well as read them a bedtime story every night. When priest shows up, and the walls become covered in garlic, they decide it's time to scare the humans out, for garlic is quite pungent.

Very quirky. A good book but I'm not sure what I truly think of it. I guess I was trying to figure out who I'd recommend it to and could only think to recommend it to quirky adults. Not a good thing when it is a children's book.