The Station Mouse by Meg McLaren

Publisher Blurb: Maurice is the Station Mouse, and so he must follow The Station Mouse Handbook:

Rule 1: A Station Mouse must remain unseen.

Rule 2: A Station Mouse must never go out in the daytime.

Rule 3: A Station Mouse must never approach the passengers.

Now, there's a reason why these rules exist: people do not like mice. And if Maurice breaks the rules, even to help a little boy who has lost something very important, there's going to be a price to pay…

This book has a delightful story and sweet illustrations filled with funny little details. Look for the book covers with titles such as 'Little Mouse on the Prairie"; "Of mice and Men pocket edition"; "Les Mouseables".  

Meg McLaren just keeps on getting better and better; this is my favourite of her stories so far. There are quirky little jokes, both visual and verbal wherever you look – even on the back cover. As well as creating superb characters, there’s an impressive sensitivity about everything she draws and she has an amazing eye for detail. Red Reading Hub

I would pair this book with:

The Lost Property Office

The library I visit each week adds small stickers to the front covers of their books showing the awards a book may have won. I find this quite delightful and often intriguing. Many school libraries would not have time to do this but as a library user I really appreciate seeing the myriad of awards awarded to children's books by different organisations around the world. Here are a few:

One of these awards, which is a new discovery for me, is the Bookbug Picture Book Prize.

The Bookbug Picture Book Prize celebrates Scottish picture books and encourages reading for pleasure. ... A free copy of each of the three books on the shortlist (are) gifted to every Primary child in the Bookbug P1 Family Bag. The winner of The Bookbug Picture Book Prize (us) chosen by children across Scotland, aged between three and seven years old, who vote for their favourite book through their class or at home.

Established in 2010, this is the eleventh year of Bookbug bags being distributed to children across Scotland. The selection of books is a year-long and robust process with an independent panel of experts shortlisting books for each of the Bookbug bags. For the P1 bag, the panel is made of up primary 1 teachers with extensive experience of working with this age group, a children’s librarian, children’s bookseller, parent and Bookbug coordinator, as well as experts from Scottish Book Trust’s Early Years team.  Panel members are asked to select books that will provide reading for pleasure while also being suitable for the age range.  Following the face to face panel, workshops take place in school classrooms across Scotland. This gives more primary 1 teachers and lots of children the opportunity to share valuable feedback on four shortlisted books to determine the final selection. Bookbug bags are then distributed through schools during Book Week Scotland in November. We do our best to ensure there is enough variety across the three shortlisted titles ​for every child to find a story they can engage with, have fun reading and enjoy.

The Station Mouse won the Bookbug Picture Book Prize in 2020. You can see other short listed books and winners here. 

Here are the short listed books and winner (This is a dog) from 2021: