Anatole - A Mouse Magnifique!

He lives in a mouse village just outside of Paris with his dear wife and six charming children. Every evening he bikes into Paris to find food for his family. One night he overhears a lady saying that to be a mouse is to be a villain! Shocked and deeply wounded, Anatole seeks a more honorable way to feed his family. He goes to the Duval cheese factory at night and puts little signs on all the cheese in the cheese tasting room offering suggestions on how to make them better. His advice turns the factory's fate around and he becomes a "respectable business-mouse".

This became one our favorites a couple months ago when we were in vacation in French speaking Belgium, and we recently received three more in the series in a package from my mom. "A mouse magnifique!" is now a catch phrase in our house. The book was written by Eve Titus in the 1950's. There are ten in the series, with the first two winning Caldecott honors. The illustrations are done in grayscale with vibrant blue and red accents on many pages. A very fun set of books!

Our very favorite lines (which contain about 50% of the French I know):

"VIVE ANATOLE! Was he content to sit back and do nothing about our way of life? NON! NON! He is a mouse of action--a mouse of honor--A MOUSE MAGNIFIQUE!"