Collectors:
I want to introduce you to one of my new favorite author/illustrators. I discovered Edna Miller a couple of years ago at a library book sale. Sometimes as I’m going through unfamiliar books certain ones just reach out to me. The Mousekin books fit that category. There was something different about Edna Miller’s illustrations that stood out among all the “cartoon-y” children’s picture books that I had been sorting through. The best word that I can think of to describe her work is “gentle.” The light watercolor illustrations have a calming effect. I love to just sit and look at these! It reminds me of looking through someone’s nature sketchbook.

For example, the pages aren’t busy or filled. Mrs. Miller pulls out one or two main subjects for illustrating (both plants and wildlife) leaving much white space for the small amount of text on each page. Simple, but satisfying! (The theme of my life lately! LOL Maybe that‘s why I‘m enjoying them so much.)

Edna Miller grew up in New York City near the American Museum of Natural History and Central Park where she first began her studies of animals and birds. Later she formally studied design and illustration both in the US and abroad.

Readers:
Here are summaries from a few of my favorites:

Mousekin’s Christmas Eve - My favorite in this series!!! I love it when Mousekin falls asleep in the manger scene.

Mousekin’s Fables - Mrs. Miller adapted Aesop’s fables to modern settings with the forest creatures. There is a short story for each month of the year followed with the moral: January - “Look…before you leap!”

Mousekin Finds a Friend - This story follows Mousekin through the forest as he searches for a friend and finds many confusing creatures. A titmouse he thought was a real mouse; cattail, pussy willow, and catfish; foxgloves, fox-finch, and a real live fox; dogwood tree and dogtooth violets; a flower called mouse-ear, mousetail, a mouse-hound (weasel), and finally another white-footed mouse like him!

Mousekin’s Lost Woodland - Oh, this one was sad! Mousekin’s tree is destroyed along with the beaver pond and many other trees in order for a new house to be built in the forest. They clear out all the underbrush and mow the grass, not leaving anywhere for the mice to hide. As the mice leave, the foxes, weasels, hawks, and owls must leave also. (Next step up the food chain.) But there is another house in the forest where the owners respected nature and left the trees and underbrush for the animal’s protection and the berries for their food.

Mousekin’s Mystery - Did you know that there is a fungus that grows in decaying wood that glows and causes animals that brush up against it to glow? After his home is burned by lightning during a summer storm, Mousekin is frightened by a strange pale light in the dark forest which he eventually learns to be fox fire, a glow caused by fungi in decaying wood.

Booksellers:
Mousekin’s Golden House is a hard-to-find title that sells well on eBay. I sold my copy for $76.00, but I’ve seen them go as high as $135.00!