A Trip to the Top of the Volcano with Mouse (Trips with Mouse)

In this follow-up to A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse, a young explorer and his impatient rodent friend hike up Sicily's Mt. Etna. Mouse has one thing on his mind—pizza—but the hiker fulfills his mission to reach the top, relaying some highlights of volcanology along the way. (A cutaway illustration midway through the book offers a helpful visual summation of things growing on the slope and within the cone.) Mouse enthusiastically, sometimes fearfully, lists things the duo encounters while ascending dramatic landscape ("Steam! Black Rock! Deep Vents! Lava!"), while the descent finds him in a tizzy about numerous predators lurking at the lower slope ("Snakes, eeeek!"). But after gaining his pizza reward—a large, with pepperoni—he's ready to go again. Fiery reds and oranges appropriately dominate the crisply drawn artwork, and plenty of expressive type and dialogue balloons will hold readers' attention. Framing by Viva is unfussy but effective, from the quarter panels used to convey nuggets of information to the spreads that open up the landscape and make every inch of the book's long horizontal format count. Ages 3-up. (May)

PreS-Gr 2-Viva's companion to 2012's A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse takes readers to the very top of the world: an active volcano. Mouse and his human companion travel by plane to Italy's Mount Etna. Hungry Mouse badgers his friend for pizza as he learns how cold it will be to hike up the volcano. At the bottom of Mount Etna, the two discuss the trees growing in the soil. "Olives! Grapes! Oranges! Almonds!" shrieks Mouse. Large, predictive text matches the illustrations well, and a clever cutaway of Mount Etna educates children about volcanoes. Mouse sweetly points out the volcano's similarities to pizza, which will elicit a giggle or two from readers. The palette is beautifully simple; relying on black, cream, red, orange, gray, blue, and brown, Viva depicts a stunning and believable world. VERDICT This latest outing with Mouse is an exemplary choice for emergent readers, graphic novel lovers, and curious kids eager to learn about volcanoes (and pizza).-Amy M. Laughlin, Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT

Praise for Frank Viva's A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse:

2012 Cybils Award Winner

Apartment Therapy's Best Children's Books of 2012

"Clear, cool, and beautiful, it belongs on your bookshelf even if you're considerably older than four." - Paste Magazine