Time Stops for No Mouse

A middle grades book that is rated "Not Too Scary," I bought this book in hopes that it would intrigue any one of my children. Somehow it managed to stay on the shelf so I thought I'd take it down, read it, and see if I could recommend it to them. I am pleased to say that this was indeed a cute book that is liable to appeal to all of the residents under five feet here.

Hermux Tantamoq is a mouse who works in a watch and clock shop. He takes great pride in his work and so is a little put off when daredevil aviatrix Linka Perflinger leaves her watch to be repaired, admonishing Hermux that it must keep perfect time, and them fails to return to pick it up. He knows something is wrong when a less than savory rat asks for Linka's watch and so show more this mild-mannered mouse decides to follow the rat and see where he goes. This plunges him into a kidnapping mystery with a biological bent. The characters surrounding Hermux are eccentric and fun. The evil villains are ruthless and sneaky. The plot zips along at a good clip with revelations, both expected and unexpected, coming fast and furious. Hoeye leaves a trail of clues for an astute reader to solve the mystery but I must admit I'm not that reader, even when the book is written for children less than half my age. But even though I didn't figure out the entirety of the whodunit, I thoroughly enjoyed this adventurous and delightful novel. It reminded me of nothing so much as the wonderful, from-my-childhood movie The Rescuers in tone and flavor. The first in a series, I hope to convince the kiddos to read it while I move along to the second. show less

Hermux Tantamoq is an average watchmaker living an average life until the adventurous aviatrix Linka Perflinger comes into his shop to get her watch repaired. Then life becomes and exciting adventure!

Thought the character and place names are strange and sometimes you have to slow down to figure out the pronunciation, the action and suspense is non-stop. There is enough description to form an image in your mind of the characters, locations and actions and still keep you wanting to read more.

I took my time and thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. I didn't feel there were any parts that dragged on and all seemed to fit together quite well. The rating for this book is "not too scary", and I agree but it does have exciting bits. It is show more classed as grades 6 - 8 reading level, but it could also be a good read-aloud too, done in chapter increments.

I recommend it for kids and adults. show less

This was one of my favorite books when I was a little too old for Redwall but still young enough to be mostly reading talking animal stories. One time I got rightly called out in writing club because one of my stories was basically a rip-off of the plot and style of this book.

Our hero, an utterly decent, quiet mouse, lives in a world of talking animals who all, for the most part, get along. He has a pet ladybug. There is a very bossy, officious, pretentious female who destroys the lovely old lobby of her apartment building in order to replace it with an extremely ugly modern art installation; she is the head of a cosmetic company. She tells Hermux that he has no sense of beauty. In contrast, Hermux has an artistic friend who disagrees and encourages him to write in a notebook every night. What he finally writes---we see his preliminary attempts---is a list of what he is thankful for for that day; we see a few of his entries.

The chapters are surprisingly short; each one has a simple object drawn directly show more below the chapter title. show less

I think this was the first fantasy book I ever read. My elementary school teacher read it aloud to my class and I fell in love. A children's novel about a watch maker mouse. He receives a watch to fix from a mysterious female mouse and then he's pulled into a world of crime (not that much, it's a children's book).

Narrated by Campbell Scott. Hermux Tantamoq is a mild-mannered mouse who owns a watchmaking shop. One day the adventurous aviatrix Linka Perflinger drops off her watch for repair. Hermux is taken with Linka and is concerned when she doesn't return for her watch. He's alarmed when a scruffy rat comes in to try and claim it without a ticket. Hermux tails the rat and witnesses Linka being led away from her home in a car. Hermux's pursuit leads him deep into a mystery concerning a formula for eternal youth and a rejuvenation spa and lab called "The Last Resort," headed by the dark and mysterious Dr. Mennus.

Having children of my own, I feel that it is important to read and keep up with some of the things that they are interested in. For a year or so my second oldest has been raving about this book, Time Stops for No Mouse, and requesting that I read it since it is one of her top picks.

I'm happy that I did.

This is a simple read for children and adults alike. It reminded me of the stories I read in my youth about adventures and the such (The Borrowers, The Little's, The Indian in the Cupboard, The Rescuers, as an example) and I was happy to see this style done "anew" for my child to enjoy.

Many of the other reviews have told you what the story is about (little old mouse, finds himself caught up in a mystery while in his attempt to save show more someone he doesn't really know but feels is in trouble) but I like to inform you that this may very much well be a book worth reading to younger to children at night (a chapter at a time) or for older children (and adults) to read on their own.

Time Stops for No Mouse may end up like Charlotte's Web and Wind in the Willows; that bed time read aloud classic that we all remember from our youth or the youth of our children. show less