Marguerite's Fountain

PreS-Gr 2—This title feels like a classic fairy tale—well, except for the critical role played by plumbing. The hero and heroine are cathedral mice; the villain is an oily black rat in a sinister cape. Benjamin, a shy brown mouse, loves to watch Marguerite, an Angelina Ballerina-like white mouse, as she dances around a sparkling churchyard fountain. When Randolph the rat flatters Marguerite into dancing with him, Benjamin senses that the fountain is what he's really after. "But Randolph was big and strong. Benjamin was small and scared. So he said nothing." Ultimately, the rat ignores, belittles, and shouts at the trusting mouse, finally banishing her to an old sewer. This is where Benjamin gathers his courage, braves the dark network of drain pipes, and locates the all-important fountain faucet to save the day. Brown's illustrations raise the level of Elliot's somewhat uneven tale. While the lovable mice and the evil rat are just what you'd hope for, the varied and ingenious perspectives of the cathedral (and its drains) elevate every page. Those who admire the work of Jan Brett will appreciate the outlines and insets as well as the way the text is often tucked into shapes that compose part of the scenery. The fuzzy logic and unenlightened gender roles also seem to be the stuff of traditional fairy tales. However, this is essentially a story of standing up to a bully.