Tidy Mrs. Tittlemouse Plots to Remove Uninvited Guests

I grew up with Peter Rabbit and enjoyed several other stories by Beatrix Potter, but a recent trip to the library reminded me how many of her books I still have yet to enjoy. I started my immersion with The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse.

Potter is known as much for her talent as a artist as a storyteller, and rightly so. The watercolors in this tiny volume are marvelously detailed. The titular mouse, a wide assortment of creepy-crawly critters including ladybugs, bees, butterflies, spiders and beetles, and a neighboring frog who often stops by to visit all look very much like the real thing, except for the fact that the mouse and the frog are wearing clothes, and exquisitely designed articles they are. Besides the clothes, there is the furniture, the dishes and other human accoutrements, but Mrs. Tittlemouse lives in a large sandy burrow that seems very much like the sort of home a real mouse would choose for herself.

The story is not quite so satisfying to me as the illustrations. Mrs. Tittlemouse is incredibly fastidious. She sweeps constantly, a pretty futile effort when one's home is made of dirt. What's worse, she has a steady stream of uninvited guests - for there's nothing really to allow her to claim this bank under the hedge as her own. Other creatures are quite inclined to wander its passageways freely. Unfortunately, they all happen to be animals of a messy nature, and Mr. Jackson, an affable but imposing frog, is worst of all. How will this poor mouse ever get all these intruders to go away?

I feel a little sorry for Mrs. Tittlemouse. For one thing, while she lives a life of extreme solitude whenever possible, it would seem that she was not always on her own. My guess is that she is a widow, since she is a "Mrs." but there's no sign of a husband. So I don't want to be too hard on the bereaved. Also, it must be rather intimidating to never know when another strange creature is going to drop by. We all appreciate our privacy, and she seems to more than most; I wouldn't be thrilled either if I had to worry about tripping over beetles and bees every time I walked down the hall.

But she's also rather a pain, always shooing away the creatures she meets, always wiping up after those who leave prints on the floor (which, given the make-up of her home, seem like they should fade away naturally). She strikes me as just a bit uncharitable. Also, Potter has two characters in this book make a distinct series of noises. Babbitty Bumble, a bee, makes buzzing sounds whenever someone speaks to him, while Mr. Jackson says "tiddly, widdly, widdly" repeatedly. After two or three times, I find this grating, though young children might enjoy the repetition.

Although the packaging is tiny, there is quite a bit of text for a picture book. I counted nearly 70 paragraphs. Most of these are fairly short, however. I caught at least two references to nursery rhymes, which astute children are likely to point out, and that adds to the fun. Overall, though, while the illustrations are fantastic, the story isn't quite as engaging as some of her other tales. The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse is worth reading, but this fussy old mouse can't compete with messy young Peter.