No book of Marino's is ever the same; each offers a new experience, quirky, subversive, and funny. Her latest is a delightful foray into the complexities of friendship, boasting, and a little warning about listening to others.

The book is divided into four stories, each a few pages long. In each, the bigger, white mouse (Mountain Mouse) takes charge - with disastrous results. In "The food story" she takes charge of a piece of cheese, since she's bigger and can climb harder. Unfortunately, the "mountain" she's climbing isn't what she expected! In "The pool story" she leads her friends on an exciting adventure, diving into a pool. Unfortunately, the pool wasn't for them.... For the second time, the Mountain Mouse makes a perfect landing (on her friends). In "The bed story" she finds the perfect bed - but it's already occupied! In "The coconut story" her long-suffering friends, decked out in chic bathing suits and trepidatious expressions, are having a vacation at the beach. "I don't want to see glum faces." says the Mountain Mouse. They're just about to jump in when they see something in the water... Finally, she seems to have learned her lesson and they settle in for a relaxing vacation. Or has she?

There isn't really a moral to this story - it will certainly offer talking points about choosing who you follow, thinking before acting, and not taking unnecessary risk - but it's also just a hilarious story of all the things that can go wrong when you are the Mountain Mouse. The illustrations, created in large panels with speech bubbles, are a good introduction to kids of graphic storytelling and will also offer more scope for examining sequences of action.

Verdict: There's plenty of tie-ins for education in this story, but mostly it's just fun! Recommended.

ISBN: 9780451469557; Published 2016 by Viking; Borrowed from another library in my consortiumI am the mountain mouse: Four Furry Tales, One Crazy Mouse by Gianna Marino