When a gentle breeze tickles the ear of a very small sleeping mouse, he awakes with a squeak, beginning a chain reaction that ripples across mountains and valleys, touches creeks and rivers, rousing every creature in its wake. With a light touch, sisters Laura McGee Kvasnosky and Kate Harvey McGee do a stellar job of showing the interconnection of all things wet and scaly, wild and wooly.
Each page delights with sound and motion: The chipmunks chitter and skitter, an eagle “whooshes” and beats her wings, and a bighorn lamb nearly misses its mark while leaping to a nearby peak, sending dirt and gravel off the cliff to the ground below. Vibrant illustrations by McGee capture the beauty and expansiveness of the Pacific Northwest, with all its creatures—ranging from the smallest mouse to bighorn sheep and the largest of them all, a bellowing bison. All the ruckus finally comes back to the mouse, still curled up in a ball and wondering what the racket is all about.
The pairing of lively language and pastel panoramas makes Squeak! both rich and evocative. Little ones will love hearing about this mouse’s wake-up call to the world.
