The Windup Mouse

K-Gr 2—From the author of Bronze and Sunflower comes this picture book about a boy and his windup mouse. Sputter is Jasper's favorite toy. With just three turns of her key and lots of cheering from Jasper, she speeds past the other windup toys at recess races. Then Jasper gets a remote controlled mouse for his birthday. The new mouse, RC, is just a bit faster than Sputter. Nevertheless, the two toys become fast friends. But Jasper abandons his RC and Sputter when he is gifted a third toy mouse. Charger, big, fast, and voice activated, incites the real mice who live in the basement to attack RC. Sputter musters all her courage to save her friend. When Jasper arrives home, having lost Charger at recess, he's happy to see his old friends waiting for him. Wenxuan's narration is brief, yet specific, setting up relationships that Zhang furthers in the illustrations. The only color amongst the black and white illustrations, perhaps created with pencil, is the warm brown of Sputter's fur. Character details, such as Jasper's slouchy clothes and swaggering walk, add a touch of humor. The book functions successfully as a read aloud title, but less so as a book for "young independent readers," as the publisher is advertising it. The text is printed in a large font surrounded by white space, but the long sentences, inconsistent use of contractions, and line breaks at unnatural points in several sentences could make this book a bit daunting for some developing readers.