I am obsessed with this. I love the interactive pages, and the way different fears are portrayed. This is a great way to talk about fears with young children, especially in the end, where Little Mouse realizes that even though she thinks she's afraid of everything, someone is actually afraid of her. ( )

Yeah, I'm going to give this just 3 stars because it's overly sophisticated for a picture book. The illustrations are very cool and so is the idea of a little mouse who's scared of everything, but who enjoys this book? Adults? The small number of upper elementary school kids who will condescend to read a picture book? I just don't know.

The art is A , but the enjoyability for kids is a C or D. ( )

From Hornbook review copies ( )

This book is to help people overcome their phobias.

Is there a name for the fear of fold-out and pop-up books getting ruined?

Little Mouse is afraid of many things: spiders, shadows, knives, and cats, of course. He draws pictures of them all in this "journal" of fears. But at least there's one thing that's always afraid of him.

This is a very clever book. The story isn't complicated; each page is a different fear with minimal story-text. I thought it unusual that a children's book would have the names and definitions for various phobias (such as arachnophobia for fear of spiders) at the top of each page, something my 14 year-old found more interesting than my 6 year-old. But where the story was kind of a "miss," the artwork was a "hit." Some of the pages have holes or edges that have been "chewed" by the mouse. There are photos and newspaper clippings taped in the book, including a fold-out map (which I thought was England but turned out to be the shape of a mouse). It was this more than the story which attracted my children's attention.

I'm not a fan of the pop-up and fold-out type of book because they generally don't last well. I've already noticed that the edges of the hole on the dust jacket catch on things and are going to tear eventually. But this really is a cute and clever book. I don't know that it would be helpful in any way for fearful or worrisome children, but it might be entertaining. ( )