
Reach for this book when your child is grappling with a big mistake or feels that their curiosity is a distraction rather than a strength. This stunningly illustrated tale follows a tiny mouse who misses the world's biggest cheese festival and builds a time machine to fix his error, accidentally overshooting his mark and meeting Albert Einstein. Beyond the breathtaking cinematic art, the story explores the beauty of human (and rodent) ingenuity, the necessity of resilience when experiments fail, and the wonder of understanding how time and space work. It is an ideal bridge between fiction and science for children ages 7 to 12, offering a sophisticated visual experience that respects a child's intelligence. Parents will appreciate how it turns complex physics into a heart-pounding adventure while modeling a growth mindset.
The book is entirely secular and focuses on scientific inquiry. There is a sense of mild peril as the mouse is pursued by a cat, but it is handled through action-adventure tropes. The feeling of regret and 'shame' over missing the festival is the primary emotional hurdle, which is resolved through proactive problem-solving.
Your experience helps other parents find the right book.
Sign in to write a reviewAn inquisitive 8-to-10-year-old who loves tinkering, drawing blueprints, or asking 'what if' questions about the stars. It is perfect for the child who finds standard textbooks dry but is visually driven and loves detail-oriented illustrations.
The book contains a lengthy non-fiction appendix explaining Einstein's theories. Parents should be prepared to read this section together, as the concepts of space-time can be mind-bending. A parent might choose this after seeing their child become frustrated by a failed project or hearing them express a desire to 'go back and change' something they did wrong.
Younger children (7-8) will be enthralled by the mouse's narrow escapes and the incredible detail of the mouse-sized inventions. Older children (10-12) will better grasp the clever 'stealth' history and the actual physics being introduced.
Kuhlmann's 'Mouse' series stands alone for its breathtaking, gallery-quality watercolor illustrations that make the fantastical feel grounded in historical reality.
A small, inventive mouse is devastated when he misses the date of a famous cheese festival. Driven by the desire to turn back the clock, he studies the mechanics of time, leading him to build various clockwork devices and eventually a spacecraft. After a miscalculation sends him too far into the past, he encounters a young Albert Einstein working in a patent office. The mouse's experiments and Einstein's theories intertwine, suggesting the mouse was the silent muse for the theory of relativity.
This overview was generated by AI based on the book's content and reviews, and may not capture every nuance.