The Mouse Family Robinson

Dick King-Smith's The Mouse Family Robinson is a cosy animal adventure for 7 year olds about a family of house mice who decide they've had quite enough of the cat.

What happens

John and Janet Robinson live under a kitchen floor. So does their elderly neighbour Mr Brown, whose wife was eaten by the cat long before the story begins.

When Janet has her first babies, Mr Brown shares his trick for naming them. Go through the alphabet! (He's had seventy-eight children, so he's been through it three times.) So along come Ambrose, Beaumont, Camilla, Desdemona, Eustace and Felicity.

Beaumont is the curious one. On his very first trip across the kitchen, a furry face with yellow eyes rises out of a basket. It's Mr Brown who calls him back just in time.

Beaumont's answer is very simple. If the cat won't leave, the mice will.

So the whole family goes out at night, sniffing their way along the street for a house that doesn't smell of cat. They find Number 16, where a boy called Bill keeps a whole room of fancy pet mice. And Mr Brown comes with them, because Beaumont won't go without him.

It's gentle, funny and very kind. Everyone says "Gosh!" a lot (it runs in the family). There's a snooty pink-eyed pet mouse who calls John an ugly mug and tells him to sling his hook. And Bill, who only wants to tame a wild mouse, is a lovely giant to have on your side.

The chapters are short, which makes it a nice one to read aloud a chapter a night.

It's worth knowing about Mr Brown before you start. He's very old, and near the end he dies of old age, quietly in the little box Bill has given him as a bed. Bill gives him a proper burial in the garden with the young mice watching.

It's handled with real tenderness, but a reader who has grown fond of "Uncle Brown" may need a cuddle. For a child who's recently lost a pet or a grandparent, it might be worth reading that chapter together.

The rest is warm and cheerful, and the family keeps on growing right to the last page.

What to read next

If they fall for the Robinsons, Magnus Powermouse is another Dick King-Smith mouse family, with a baby so enormous and so hungry that his poor parents can't keep him fed.