This book, I think, goes some way to explaining my semi-obsession with design blogs of the likes of Apartment Therapy and Ohdeedoh. Not to mention Grand Designs on TV…
And by the looks of the reviews on Amazon and Good Reads – and of the prices secondhand copies demand – I am not alone in loving it.
Published in 1981, Need A Mouse? Call Ms Mouse! is by George Mendoza with amazing illustrations by Doris Susan Smith. Ms Mouse is Henrietta, ‘a world famous decorator’ … artist, designer, dreamer, builder, creator… Henrietta is charged with designing the perfect home for her forest friends.
As a first introduction to the importance of responding to a brief, this book is perfect: Henrietta designs a completely different building for each of her clients, and every detail is conceived to suit their character. And I don’t know about you, but I LOVED examining a cross-section of a building when I was little… (I think I still do).
There’s the house for rabbit – the industrious vegetable farmer.
A Japanese-inspired pad for lazy cat:
And the perfect launching place for frog:
I wish I could show you every illustration in this wonderful book. Even now, I pour over the detail in its pages, filing away in my head ideas and details for MY dream house…
It seems there were actually two English editions of the book, the other one from the UK and titled House by Mouse. The text is very different between the two editions – would love to know the story behind this. More scans of the illustrations are viewable here and here (note the different text on frog’s page in these scans?!).
Check out this great NY Times review of the book, couldn’t agree with it more (via Vintage Kids’ Books My Kid Loves).
oh mannnnnn…. you are so lucky. I have never actually seen that book with my own two eyes… another holy grail.
i love this little nytimes article about how the drawings far outweigh the text,
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B05EEDE1638F931A15752C1A967948260
Seems like someone selected well in stocking your childhood library!
I loved this book too! my favourite was the house which could only be accessed by a draw bridge which could be drawn up when unwanted guests appeared.
sweet pea has this book on his bookshelf. as a child i loved looking inside the homes and wondering what life was like in those little places. love, love, love this book!
I first discovered this book today. My wife had a copy as a child – in Japanese! We found it at her parents’ house and enjoyed it together.
I have always adored this book.it was given to me as a child and now I have shared it with all three of my boys . My 2 yr old wants to live with the frog my 7yr old wants to live with owl and my 9yr old wants to live with the otter! It’s a treasure !