A Tale of Paddlewick

Book excerpt: Paddlewick and Prim Penelope, two tiny deer mice, are truly thrilled about their journey to the chapel, Minster Leith, to hear the stories of Jesus. Quietly, the two mice leave their families, who doze in chewed cheesecloth and Irish linen nests high up in the walls of the attic inside the creaky old manor of Grey Fox Farm. They sought no wise counsel, and soon the mice, being very ill-prepared, quickly learned danger that lurked all around them. Under deep forest canopies of twisted twigs and limbs, the two childlike mice scurry down broken stone carriage roads, swam across babbling streams, and most dreadfully right into the claws of enemies. Will the two mice perish, or will they live to tell their stories of paths dusted with humble pie, jumpy jitters, and surrendering secrets? But not all is grim. Paddlewick and Prim Penelope stumble upon the strangest adventure that ever happened to a mouse.