Miss Mousie's Blind Date by Tim Beiser -- NOT RECOMMENDED

Beiser, Tim and Rachel Berman Miss Mousie's Blind Date 24 pgs. Tundra Books, 2012. $17.95. PICTURE BOOK. When Miss Mousie sees handsome Matt the River Rat, she feels instant infatuation. But instead of returning her affection, he loudly calls her fat and dismisses her. Completely undone, Miss Mousie takes to her bed for days and decides she is ugly and not fit to be seen in public. But when she receives an invitation from a secret admirer, her curiosity lures her into going outside to meet him. First, though, she raids her closet and puts together a crazy costume so no one will recognize what she considers her plain face and tubby body.

The text is fun to read aloud because of the rhythm, the pictures are nice, and the mystery of the blind date kept me intrigued, but I admit I felt uncomfortable the few times I read this book to my daughter. I think the lesson here is supposed to be that it's okay to be yourself but, honestly, it feels like it conveys just the opposite, from Matt the river rat never being punished for being so mean, to Miss Mousie becoming a hermit because of one negative comment, to the villagers clapping when they see her new (and not very Mousie-esque) look, to her blind date trying to be just like Matt. In addition, I didn't understand why Miss Mousie felt she needed a disguise in order to meet her blind date, because he had obviously seen her before and liked her for who she was. Otherwise, he would not have asked her out. EL -- NOT RECOMMENDED. Reviewed by: Caryn