Ruby the mouse was born small, even for a mouse. But she soon made up for it with her LOUD voice.

Everything she did was LOUD. Talking, singing, humming and annoyingly for her brothers and sisters – sleep talking. It was more like sleep yelling, and very hard to ignore. But they all loved her, and accepted her name given by the mouse community – Ruby Loud Mouse.

When Ruby started school however, she suddenly had to learn to be quiet. Quiet reading in the classroom. Visits to the school library, or school visits to the Mouseum. Poor Ruby found stifling her voice very difficult. There were so many places where she couldn’t be her LOUD, happy self. In the shops, on the bus or on the marae. Even her thoughts were LOUD!

But one day, in the middle of a game with her siblings where she is usually allowed to be as LOUD as she likes, everyone froze. Silence fell over the street. Not one mouse moved a muscle. Except Ruby. She tried to be quiet. She tried to be still. But there was no holding it in this time.

Her song burst from her, louder than ever before. Had she doomed her family and friends to being a Ruru’s dinner?

What a gorgeous story! A mouse main character is the first plus. Ruby is so cute, born very, very small, even for a mouse, then having the contrast of a very big voice!

I loved the way her family accepted her for who she was, but felt for Ruby when outside rules and norms kept her big personality and voice stuffed down inside her. The climax of the story releases all that “sssshhh” that she had been keeping down deep, bursting forth to save the day.

Ruby the Loud Mouse and the Ruru will make a great read aloud for 4+, and a wonderful way for new readers to flex their reading skills. This picture book by NZ Author, Alice Pearce and NZ Tattoo Artist and Illustrator, Dïne the Fox also has interesting facts about both Mice and Ruru (Morepork) in the rear of the book, along with links to research further facts.

Author – Alice Pearce

Illustrator – Dïne the Fox

Picture Book

(2024, Bateman Books, NZ, New Zealand, Aotearoa, Mouse, Mice, Ruru, Native Bird, Morepork, Identity, Loud Personality, Loved, Family, Acceptance, Saves the Day, Humour, Funny)