Publishers Weekly
★ 02/20/4
Given the title, readers may expect to meet a mouse who’s crazy about cars and always zooming about. But while Motor Mouse does have a little red car and drives it “here and there, making deliveries,” neither car nor service are central to the book’s three emotionally rich short stories. In the first, a hedgehog helps Motor Mouse and his cake-enthusiast friend Telly get out of their comfort zone and try pie on what is usually their shared end-of-the-work- week celebration, Cake Friday. In the third, he negotiates an ongoing sibling battle over hogging movie popcorn. And in the middle and most profound story, Motor Mouse hires a cab—he wants to be the passenger, for once—who takes him to his old school, where he discovers that nostalgia isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. As ever, the team behind the Mr. Putter & Tabby series delights: Howard’s bright, boldly outlined cartooning keeps the mood buoyant, and Rylant offers knowing, laugh-out-loud-funny narration. But what readers ultimately come away with is deep satisfaction of having spent time with a rodent who is competent, caring, and at home in the world. Ages up to 8. (Apr.)
School Library Journal
04/01/2019
K-Gr 3—Rylant continues to create worlds of intriguing characters and fun adventures in this first title of her new series. This book contains three separate tales, each following the star character Motor Mouse and some of his friends. In the first, Motor Mouse and his friend Terry learn to try new things when the cake shop closes on Cake Friday. The second entry has Motor Mouse take a taxi to see old sights and make some new friends. In the third story, Motor Mouse and his brother Valentino must figure out how to share a large bucket of popcorn at the movies without hogging all the delicious treat. The plots are simple to follow and well paced for younger readers, the characters are enjoyable, and the life lessons are brilliantly simplified and understandable. The illustrations help to establish the personalities and the world of Motor Mouse through their lovable cartoon style. They also help to show the plot of each story, which is great for beginning readers who are still learning to read. The vocabulary is also simple and easy to understand. VERDICT This enticing series starter for early readers teaches flexibility, friendship, and compromise.–Margaret Kennelly, iSchool at Urbana-Champaign, IL
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2019-01-15
Pie, cake, ice cream, popcorn, and bowling only hint at the pleasures to be found in three effervescent little stories.
Motor Mouse is a hardworking rodent, and when it comes to his downtime, he certainly knows how to relax. In "The Friday Cake Day" a catastrophic inaccessibility of delights (read: a closed cake shop) leads to new vistas as the titular hero and his friend Telly (an otter) discover the wide and wonderful world of pie. In "Going for a Look-About," Motor Mouse cedes driving control to a raccoon cabbie so that he can take his eyes off the road for once. Finally, in "Front Row at the Picture Show," a long-standing grudge involving a popcorn-hogging brother comes to a head with satisfactory results. Rylant's grasp of succinct storytelling is on full display. Wry understatement (the pie is deemed by Motor Mouse and Telly to be "QUITE ACCEPTABLE," while an arrangement whereby two brothers share a single bucket of popcorn "had not worked for years. And it was not working this Saturday, either") creates memorable characters with minimal syllables. Howard's art too, honed on the author's 27 Mr. Putter & Tabby books, deftly balances heart, humor, and the occasional magnificent burst of pathos.
In the words of Motor Mouse himself, "QUITE ACCEPTABLE"—actually, more than quite. (Picture book. 4-7)
