Jumping Mouse: A Native American Legend of Friendship and Sacrifice

by Misty Schroe, Misty Schroe (Illustrator)

Overview

Jumping Mouse is just like another other mouse, except she has a dream—a dream to reach the fabled High Places. But one small mouse can’t make the long journey alone. At the start of her journey, Jumping Mouse is gifted new long legs from wise Grandfather Frog. Filled with gratitude, she soon meets others who need assistance just like she did: a buffalo that cannot see and a wolf that cannot smell. In order to aid them, she must sacrifice her own sight and hearing, putting her dream of the High Places at risk. Through perseverance and belief, Jumping Mouse discovers who she was truly meant to be, and demonstrates the value of friendship, selflessness, and sacrifice.

Characters come to life through striking photographs of ash-fired ceramic sculptures, giving a fresh twist to this retelling of a timeless tale from the oral tradition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781624148170
Publisher:	Page Street Publishing
Publication date:	11/05/2019
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	657,743
Product dimensions:	9.60(w) x 10.80(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Misty Schroe comes from a long line of storytellers and uses her illustration skills to continue that tradition. She is a ceramist and illustrator and received her BFA in illustration with a minor in Creative Writing form Lesley University’s College of Art and Design. She currently lives in Rochester, NH. This is her debut picture book.

Editorial Reviews

08/26/2019

“Long, long ago, there was a mouse”—a mouse with a dream—newcomer Schroe begins, illustrating her retelling of what she calls an “old Native American tale” (provenance unspecified) with her engaging clay figurines photographed in wild landscapes. The mouse sets out for the High Places, where the old ones say life is good. She meets Grandfather Frog, who rewards her resolve by changing her into Jumping Mouse, whose newly elongated legs will take her farther. Then she meets Brother Buffalo, who has lost his sight, and she helps him at once: “You will now be known as Eyes-of-a-Mouse!” But her sacrifice, she discovers, has taken her own sight. The buffalo and her sense of smell help the mouse continue on. When she meets a wolf who has lost her sense of smell, Jumping Mouse makes another sacrifice, this time imperiling her quest. Just as despair threatens, Grandfather Frog re-appears to help. Though the mechanism through which the mouse changes others’ fates isn’t made clear, her desire for companionship and willingness to sacrifice prove touching. An author’s note discussing Schroe’s Native American mother mentions no specific tribe or background. Ages 4–8. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

12/01/2019

PreS-Gr 2—A mouse has a dream to go to the High Places, where life is good. She tries to convince the other mice around her to join in, but when they decline, she is given a gift by Grandfather Frog: extra long legs for jumping, so that she can cover a great distance. Along her travels, she gives away her sight and her sense of smell to other animals in need but is rewarded with the ability of flight, ultimately turning into an eagle. Schroe illustrates the text with handcrafted ceramics that she places in different settings, staging each scene carefully. A smaller view of the ceramic animals without a backdrop is shown on pages with text, while a larger scene of them photographed in nature is shown on the opposite page. Though the ceramics are beautifully sculpted and thoughtfully staged, children may struggle to identify each animal. The wolf, for instance, bears more than a passing resemblance to a pig when its tail is not visible. The story is identified as a Native American folktale without providing any sort of specific tribal affiliation, and Schroe mentions a general Native American heritage in the foreword. VERDICT Though the mouse's generosity is admirable, the lack of tribal specificity for this tale undermines its authenticity and usefulness for educational purposes. An additional purchase.—Kelsey Socha, Ventress Memorial Library, Marshfield, MA

School Library Journal

2019-08-12
An ordinary mouse, dreaming of a less ordinary life, sets off on a journey that tests her in this new take on the story told by John Steptoe in The Story of Jumping Mouse (1984).

When a little female mouse suggests to the other mice that they set off to find the High Places of legend, she realizes the others don't want a different life, and so she chooses to go alone. Soon, she comes to a fast-moving river where she meets Grandfather Frog. Moved by "the eagerness of [her] heart," Grandfather Frog gifts her his ability to leap great distances and calls her Jumping Mouse. As she continues her journey, Jumping Mouse encounters Brother Buffalo and Sister Wolf, both of whom she finds distressed and crying. Displaying compassion, she gives the one her vision and the other her sense of smell, jeopardizing her own quest. Though the simple story lacks high dramatic conflict, the illustrations—hand-built, clay-sculpted characters photographed in real-life natural settings—provide visual interest and deserve praise. Younger readers will mostly enjoy the animal characters while older ones will likely engage with themes of friendship, self-sacrifice, and the importance of following one's dreams. Some readers may find it troubling that misinformed beliefs in a singular, pan-Indian culture are reinforced by the generic subtitle as well as by the absence of the author/illustrator's specific tribal affiliation/descent or even any note on the story's origin.

A cute story that doesn't reach the high places it could. (author's note, note on art) (Picture book/folktale. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews