Florence and Fox: The Pet Mouse

Zanni Louise

Anna Pignataro

Walker Books, 2024

32pp., hbk., RRP $A25.99

9781760655525

When Fox comes to visit and tells Florence that he has something to show her, she is certain that he is going to tell her he has mastered doing handstands – something Florence can already do.  But when he shows her it is a pet mouse, she is somewhat taken aback because she likes to have the upper hand in their relationship.  And so she decides she wants a pet mouse too, although that is unlikely to happen because her mother doesn’t like mice.

Nevertheless. Florence crosses her fingers, and when that doesn’t work, she crosses her toes and then her arms… but still no mouse and life is getting tricky, if not impossible, with everything crossed.  But, luckily for her, Fox ignores her previous edict about some days being sharing days, and next day he brings his mouse so Florence can join in the fun.  Now, if only Fox could learn to do handstands…

The second in this series for little ones negotiating and navigating the world of making friends and the give-and-take that is involved, this one opens up opportunities to discuss feelings like envy as they often covet what their friends have but can’t have for themselves.  How well I still remember wanting so much to have a bright rubber beach ball like my friend next-door and even sneaking through the fence to pinch it from their playshed, and then learning about the consequences that follow – including never getting the one my parents had planned to buy for my birthday.  (And also accepting that I would have to be satisfied with my pedal trike because I wasn’t going to get a chain-bike like theirs either!)  But nevertheless, dreams are free.

As they venture beyond family, little ones can find that making friends involves a lot of new emotions and actions that have been taken for granted within the family, so gentle stories like these that help them experience common situations but at arm’s length, are important for their social and emotional development.  Learning it now makes it easier later.