It’s a rollicking cat-and-mouse tale, but this time, they’re both on the same side – racing against time to save our world and theirs. The task takes on new urgency when they discover that what is at stake is nothing less than the power of Imagination itself. A modern take on timeless truths, familiar rhymes, fables, and fairy tales, told through the eyes of an ‘ultra-logical’ mouse, a non-predatory cat, and a teenage story-teller. You think you know these tales, but once the layers start peeling back, what is underneath will surprise and delight you. Don’t read this book if you think children should be seen and not heard, or if you hope that everyone you meet will turn out to be just like you, or if you just don’t want to be bothered with any new experiences.
Jaz Davison (writing as J. A. Zarifian) is an award winning Stage Director and Actor. She has been by turns a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a mother, a divorcee, an aunt, a widow, a lover, a god-mother and an eminence grise. No one remains unchanged after meeting her. This is her first novel
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5 reviews
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Davison transports her readers to a magical world in her book, Once Upon A Mouse. As beautifully written and illustrated as it is imagined. I didn’t want it to end!
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Love this book. It’s beautifully written and illustrated, and very hard to put down once you start reading it, it’s magical. Looking forward to more books from this author.
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Literate, enthralling, great fun.
The story of pragmatic yet naive, innocent and determined little mouse Danni takes the reader on a wonderful tour of the world of fairy tales, with an all original story and cast of characters, yet with delightful references and allusions to the tales grownup readers grew up with ... or children will be tempted to read after hearing of them here. Sensational color illustrations by Daniel Cabuco are an added bonus to this delightful book which will please a very wide range of ages - to be read to or to savour yourself.
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There is no shortage of authors that have used fairy tales as a background to tell their stories. I would argue that few have done it as well as J.A. Zarifian.
This book is delightful and captivating. The characters are wonderfully rich and full, and the story’s twists and turns are fascinating.
At its core, this story is about opposites and the eternal war between them. Love vs hate, good vs evil, generosity vs stinginess, creation vs destruction, friendship vs isolation, innocence vs wisdom, the value of art vs traditional hard work, and even a bit of democrat vs republican. I found the journey between the various seemingly opposite points of view thought-provoking, and lovingly developed; a blessing in this age of divisive separation.
Zarifian reminds us again about the wonderful lessons found in the ancient fairy tales and nursery rhymes and adds a few lessons of her own in the telling.
But the best part? The best part is the characters. Who knew I could be so attached to a fictional talking mouse and cat and the young human they adventure with? What a gift.
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I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Growing up as a baby boomer I delighted to hear the characters of rhymes and fairytales that I grew up with, interwoven with the loveable characters of the book. Even the villain was well-meaning, in his own eyes, but scary to me. I started out by reading the book version about a third of the way and then finished by listening to the audiobook. I savoured that each narrator fit the characters and mood of the story. That helped endure me to the characters all the more. I wish that I could open my front door to Doyle, Danni the Mouse and Leo the Cat, for a nice long visit.
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