Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley (1997) needs it's large, rectangular shape to display the vast number of crisp, colorful images that fill each two-page spread. An ambitious mouse scatters food across a kitchen counter and we see the mess up close, from the mouse’s point of view. As the cover art shows, this mouse dances with pleasure as it rummages through dry cereal, cheese, fruit, jam and peanut butter, sugar, olives, and condiments. Riley’s rhyme works, and the story is funny. When this happy go lucky mouse empties a canister of brown sugar, it builds a castle! Mouse is amazed at the mess, not comprehending its own handiwork. Mouse takes a bath in teacup, mouse goes back to bed into a sardine can.
The artwork is
explained on the dust jacket. The illustrations are collage and watercolor; and
I agree that each collage is “playful and exuberant”.
