My sweet friend, Tanya Arnold introduced me to German author and illustrator Torben Kuhlmann this fall and I could not be more delighted. My boys (12 and 16) spent hours poring over his Mouse Adventures books because of the rich art, the wildly imaginative story, and the hyper-creative engineering designs throughout the books. I found myself equally captivated by the incredible beauty and ingenious storytelling. These stories remind me of Dinotopia in regard to the imaginative engineering and the stunning art
“These are dark times . . . for a small mouse. A new invention - the mechanical mousetrap - has caused all the mice but one to flee to America, the land of the free. But with cats guarding the steamships, trans-Atlantic crossings are no longer safe. In the bleakest of places . . . the one remaining mouse has a brilliant idea. He must learn to fly!”
The Mouse Adventures series includes four stories of daring and creative mice who are as fascinated by science and technology as we are. In each book, the main mouse considers an engineering and invention question at more or less the same time as the famous human counterpart. In each book, it is the mouse who solves the problem first, and who then leaves clues behind for the famous scientist. Whether it is the mouse who leaves scraps of paper behind for the “floppy hats” at NASA to find as he blasts off to the moon, or the mouse who leaves a riddle each night for Einstein to solve, helping him work out his theories on relativity, the mouse is always just one step ahead of the human in the most charming ways.
The books can be read in any order but it is probably most satisfying to read them in publication order: Lindbergh, Armstrong, Edison, and then Einstein as the mice do connect with each other. Each book features a different main mouse.
Each story has a perfect blend of wordless spreads and pages with engaging text. Some of the pictures are large in scale with gorgeous detail. Others are collections of vignettes with impressive attention to the tiniest details. The art is spectacular!
At the end of each story are a few pages featuring the true history of the famous scientists. The nonfiction portion of the story has the same living and exciting quality as the main story.
Lindbergh: The Tale of a Flying Mouse is about a mouse who wants to leave his country (presumably Germany) for America. The mousetrap has been invented and mice are fleeing Germany in droves. Escape by steamer is no longer an option as the docks and ships are overrun with cats. Our mouse turns back, looking for another route of escape, realizing that the only path left is over the sea by air. Our mouse studies the principles of flight and works to build a flying machine that can cross the Atlantic.
“As the curator responsible for the caring of Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, I thought Lindbergh was inspired to fly the Atlantic nonstop, solo after he read a newspaper account of famed French ace Rene Fonck’s failed attempt in September 1926 . . . And now I know Lindbergh’s true inspiration . . . .” - F. Robert van der Linden, Chairman, Curator of Special Purpose Aircraft, Aeronautics Division, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
It is dangerous mission and after many trials, failures, and escapades, our mouse safely lands in the United States where humans have taken notice.
“The news of the flying mouse quickly spread across the country. The papers told the story of his spectacular adventure. People were fascinated by their new hero - someone so small had achieved something so great. An air show called “Courageous Flying Mouse” soon toured the country and was sold out. Legend has it that a little boy often stood in front of the posters with butterflies in his stomach. He went to every show he could . . . His name was Charles Lindbergh.”
Parents may wish to know that in this story, there is one image that small children may find unsettling.
Armstrong: The Adventurous Journey of a Mouse to the Moon is the book that Tanya sent to us and was our first introduction to Kuhlmann’s brilliant storytelling. In this story, the local mice are convinced, as all mice are, that the moon is made of cheese. Armstrong, however, has a telescope, and he is convinced that the moon is something else. Something more. “With shining eyes and a voice that trembled with excitement, he told them all he knew . . .” He believed the moon to be a ball of stone in the sky. But the other mice would not let him finish his story. They knew that it was cheese.
When the little mouse receives a mysterious note and a ticket to enter the Smithsonian Museum, he makes the long and dangerous journey from New York to Washington, D.C.. When he gets to the Smithsonian, he meets the flying mouse from the first book.
“I heard about your discoveries, and I thought this place might be of interest to you. You see, there was once a time when nothing was impossible for us mice. We traveled the world, and even learned how to fly. But at some time or another, mice became interested in other things. And gradually they forgot all about their flying ancestors.”
The older mouse advises the young mouse to “study human knowledge. Some humans are really clever.” And so the mouse investigates libraries and sneaks into university classes. He learns that the moon was much further away than he thought and that he would need to solve a number of problems: the right kind of vehicle, the right kind of suit, and the right way to breathe in space. The next fifty pages, reveal his building, experimenting, and ultimately coming up with the right things. The humans, however, start to notice him and they are on the hunt for him. The “floppy hats” and their dogs burst into Armstrong’s room just as his rocket is taking off in the chimney. He leaves behind all of his notes which the humans collect and send to NASA.
This story is such a delight! And, as usual, there is a wonderful section at the end about the history of space travel.
In Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure, mice have remembered their flying ancestors. Hiding behind the local bookstore is a mouse university. Armstrong is a grey-haired, pipe-smoking, wise old professor. One day after class, a young mouse named Pete approaches the professor asking for help. He has very old papers from one of his ancestors who boarded the HMS Atlantis ocean liner and was never heard from again. The ship sank but all of the people were rescued. There was no record of what happened to any of the mice on board, however. Armstrong agrees to help Pete go to the bottom of the sea and board the sunken ship to find the clues necessary to learn what happened to Pete’s missing relative.
This story is also fun. They build scuba gear and an oceanographic vessel. I will let you find out how Thomas Edison connects with this one!
Finally, in Einstein: The Fantastic Journey of a Mouse Through Space and Time, we get a time travel book. In this one, a modern mouse misses a cheese fair and wishes that he could go back in time by one day to be able to attend the fair.
Through a creative set of circumstances, he explores Einstein’s theories on time and time travel and successfully transports himself back in time to when a young Albert Einstein was still working in the patent office. The trouble is that the mouse is stuck there and cannot return to his own time. He needs Einstein to solve the problem for him. Our mouse friend cannot present himself to Einstein because he is a mouse. Instead, he leaves riddles on Einstein’s desk each night for the scientist to solve.
I think that my boys like this book best of all. It is clever and the drawings in this one are particularly winsome.
All of these books were originally published in Germany in German. Had they been published here and in English, they certainly would have been on the Caldecott lists each year. The books themselves are printed on high-quality paper with excellent bindings. All of them are available on Amazon and are absolutely gift-worthy. Our friends at Biblioguides have an author page for Kuhlmann that lists other books that we haven't had a chance to review yet.
Lindbergh: The Tale of a Flying Mouse
Armstrong: The Adventurous Journey of a Mouse to the Moon
Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure
Einstein: The Fantastic Journey of a Mouse Through Space and Time
Special Note: the author has done an absolutely incredible job on a website for Mouse Adventures. There are free book club guides and all kinds of creative resources including beautiful book trailers. Don't miss it!