Review of “Mice to Meet You” by Sylvia Elba

Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)

Mice to Meet You is an adorable, lighthearted children's book by Sylvia Elba. It stars a cute, cuddly, cozy cast of field mice who each have their own, individual wants, needs, and personalities. Furthermore, it is written with a very simple, enjoyable, and easy-to-follow rhyme scheme that will definitely have your child's attention.

We'll get this out of the way first: of the half-dozen or so children's books we've read so far this spring, this is probably the best illustrated. The illustrations all have a very uniform, colorful, inviting, and appealing look. They also have a very hand-drawn look, something we definitely appreciate. None of this looks AI or computer-generated. Everything from the mushrooms to the butterflies and strawberries to the mice themselves look good. Everything in this book looks absolutely adorable!

Another really great thing is that the author created this book with dyslexic people in mind, and one of our judges is dyslexic, so that's extra awesome. There are thousands of dyslexic children out there who need books like this to get them started in reading.

There is very little wrong about this book, but one thing we noticed was that there are a few minor grammatical errors that probably could've been fixed. We can understand “dandminton” as a pun for a sport with dandelions (which is later explored), but “berried treasures” doesn't quite work the same way. The other issue that keeps reoccurring is the misuse or overuse of commas. For example, commas aren't necessary in the following lines:

“Sophie loves to tidy, all around her house”

“Her kind and helpful nature, makes her friends smile”

“A wonderful retreat, where happiness is increased”

These are a few very minor examples. And, again, these problems are very minor. You may have noticed in this line “Her kind and helpful nature, makes her friends smile” should substitute the plural “make” in place of the singular “makes.” Few children are going to care about something like this, so it's fine for the target audience.

You could even argue that these commas are just used to designate a pause in the reading of a verse of a poem or song, practically to mark a sort of “beat.” We can't definitely understand that. We just thought we'd bring up that a quick edit may have been able to slightly improve the writing of this book.

All in all, this cute, beautiful, adorable, fun, and exciting book will awe you and your children with its art and cuddly cast of characters!