Since I started working at a children's book publisher last year, my appreciation for picture books—for craft and love that goes into making them, for the beautiful illustrations and lyrical words that can be found within them—has grown exponentially. Mouse Music is a lovely picture book about appreciating diversity and finding beauty in our differences. The paper cut illustrations are delightful and bright, and perfectly capture the magic of creating music, especially when different styles come together to create something new and unexpected. Isabel's siblings change of heart happened rather abruptly, and the ending could have been a little less compressed, but overall a really solid story! The final spread with suggestions for musical education is a really neat addition by the author that will make this a great book for teachers to share with their young students in a classroom setting.

Thank you NetGalley! My littles loved this book so much. Mouse music is a fun and beautifully illustrated read.

I received an electronic ARC from Clavis Publishing through NetGalley.
Isabel and her siblings play beautiful music together in the forest where they live. She likes to venture out and explore. While out in the forest, she hears different types of music - birds, ants, other mice - and calls her siblings to listen. They refuse to hear the different styles of music and stick to their own. Isabel joins the "city mice" and plays with them. Finally, the siblings understand that all sorts of music can be beautiful.
Lovely illustrations support the text. Terrific book to read together and talk about celebrating differences and seeing beauty in unfamiliar places. Overmeer brings this lesson out through her characters and how they react.

This is a great book about learning when to stop and listen to the music. I really enjoyed this book and the illustrations are wonderfully done.

Thank NetGalley for the early access to this title! My little is ravenous for new books all the time and this one did not disappoint. I know it's a good one when she asks for it several nights in a row. She does enjoy a good book with animals as the main characters. Thanks for an enjoyable read and we look forward to adding a hard copy to our bookshelves.

This is a children's book that I read to my twin boys. This book as super cute pictures, and the message in this book is important and very well done. I love the characters in this book. I felt that my boys understood what the book was trying to tell the children in this book. This is overall a cute and fun book to read with young readers with a great message. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Clavis Publishing) or author (Suzan Overmeer) via NetGalley, so I can give honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

We loved this book and how the music flowed through the colors. Such a sweet story to read to the little ones in your life!

Mouse Music is a cute picture book about music and friendship that encourages young readers to find the music all around them, and to create music with one another. The illustrations remind me of Leo Lionni's work, bright papery washes of color, and suited the story well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Clavis Publishing for the advance review copy!

Mouse Music is a book about music and difference. I like the message of the book, showing ideas that are different from our own can be enjoyable. The illustrations are vibrant and engaging and through a variety of shapes, show visually the power of music. There is a useful page at the end for engaging young learners in play experiences related to the book. The story for me was a little wordy and only moderately engaging, for me visually interesting with a good message but the story was a little flat.

The mice family are hearing different sounds and learning that just because the music is different from yours, doesn’t make your music better and theirs worse. A good lesson here about not only music but life in general. The illustrations are beautiful!

Isabel and her siblings like to make music in the forest. You don't have to be musically inclined to love this book, you just have to love music. Isabel and her friends share all that music does for our well being and how fun it can be.

A special thank you to Clavis Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest revie

I love this book. Music is so important to children! It teaches listening skills, coordination, appreciation, and so much more. This darling little story teaches kids to listen carefully and to find the music in daily things. It also explains that things can be different than what you usually listen to, but can still be great. I loved Isabel Mouse! I liked that she kept searching for new music and that she kept trying to get her siblings to appreciate other types of music along with her. The illustrations were detailed and colorful and went along great with the story being told.
Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the digital ARC in exchange for my review.

#NetGalley #MouseMusic

Isabel and her siblings are country mice and they play music together. Isabel loves to go for walks with her violin. She stops and listens to the sounds of nature and realizes there is music in everything. Her siblings don’t see it the same way. Isabel comes across 4 mice, singing together and one plays a guitar. They are from the city. She decides to play her violin along with them. Her siblings hear this and realize there are different kinds of music.

I liked how nature sounds were pulled into this story. The last couple pages of interaction for kids is great.

A musical and open-minded mouse appreciates the sounds of the forest even if the melodies are different from what she's used to. She wants to share this appreciation with her siblings, but it's not until they hear how the integration of different sounds can be beautiful do they understand. A cute story about inclusion and the importance of diversity.

It is needless to say that sounds and music play an important role in our lives. Music as a category is present in our everyday lives, in movies, in comercials, in holidays and celebrations, and in education, as well. But it can be also said that sounds are literally everywhere around us.

From birth, parents instinctively use music to calm and soothe children, to express love and joy, and to engage and interact. But music and sounds are more than that. Just as taste, textures and colours aid a child’s sensory development, so does music. Exposing your child to different types of sounds can help create more pathways between the cells in their brains. This effect increases even more when you link sounds to different activities such as dancing or playing a game.
And Mouse Music by Suzan Overmeer stresses the importance of sounds and music in a very charming and compelling way. Isabel the mouse's thoughts and ideas are well-conceived to stimulate your child's imagination and exploratory spirit and make him or her see things in their everyday life in a slightly different way. What is quite nicely stated is the way in which different things can fit into one whole which, although composed of differences, is absolutely beautiful. Cute illustrations are enough to hold your child's attention and awaken the desire to explore their surroundings in search of sounds or music.
I especially like the part at the end which contains supplemental suggestions for music education, giving directions and ideas for the children, as well as the strong message to be open to novelties and differences.
All in all, a wonderful story for children with adapted language structures and cute illustrations that will encourage your little one to think. Great idea for a good night story or any part of the day.

Mouse Music
by Suzan Overmeer
Great book to add to the music classroom. The little mouse learns for the world around her to appreciate the songs of nature. Although at first she was not accepted by her family. Her experience broadens her families love of music. The book shows how we can learn from nature, and others can enhance our own music.

This is such a sweet little book about a family of mice who play music with each other and other forest friends. The message is great and the illustrations are adorable and bright.
Many thanks to Clavis Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy.

This children's book was recently translated from Dutch into English. The illustrations are charming. Isabel Mouse ventures into the forest with her violin and encounters other animals playing music. Each time she tries to share the beauty of the new music she has found with her musical siblings, her siblings are unimpressed, believing their own music to be superior. Will she be able to change their minds?

The book is intended for children between the ages of 4 and 9. It contains supplemental suggestions for music education at the end, inviting children to interact with their environment and each other to make music. It inspires children to listen to new styles of music and appreciate the sounds they are hearing.

While I enjoyed the book, I felt that it was lacking an element that would allow children to connect with Isabel and the other characters. Overall, it is a cute book that will hopefully inspire little musicians to try new music.

This story was so cute! The musical mice are precious and I love the story of learning to accept those different than you and learn to find harmony. The art style was stunning and the story made me smile.

This is a beautiful children’s story about Isabel’s love for music. Isabel’s siblings are not as open to different types of music, but Isabel just can’t get enough. The illustrations are beautiful, and the color is very bright to hold the attention of my children. My 4-year-old daughter loved Isabel’s journey, and there are musical recommendations at the end of the book which my daughter loved doing!

I received a free copy of this eBook from Clavis Publishing and NetGalley
#MouseMusic #NetGalley