Little Cherub's Book Choice: Two Tiny Mice

I picked up this book - Two Tiny Mice: a Natural World Adventure, by Alan Baker - in the library a couple of months ago, attracted by the beautiful illustrations and the idea of a book that introduces English wild animals to small children. It sat in the book basket untouched for a few weeks before Little Cherub decided it met her current book choice criteria. Those criteria largely involve animals - preferably animals she can identify (frogs! ducks! squirrels!) - and things to count (two mice!), so it was a fairly safe bet that she would eventually fix on this book as a favourite.

This is one of those library books I would like to own. The illustrations are stunning, with animals ranging from moles to otters set in detailed natural surroundings. The main text is just simple verse ("Two tiny harvest mice, scampering in the wheat. Wandering through the countryside, who will they meet?"), but this is a book you buy for the pictures, not the words. The revised 2006 edition includes a section of brief nature notes on each of the featured animals at the end, which would be useful to use with school aged children.

There is also a companion book, Two Tiny Mice Explore, which I'm hoping to be able to get from the library. I tried to reserve it, but their website is down. Bah! Humbug!