The Greentail Mouse (review)

Growing up is akin to being a grown-up in that both states share the harrowing frustrations of daily life. The ability to cope is what determines how a person will provide for his survival. Children are instinctively interested in this aspect of life because they know that a mastery of it is essential to their own development.

The field mice in The Greentail Mouse live in a visually stimulating world created for them by Lionni's imaginative use of gouache. Inspired by a city mouse's description of Mardi Gras the field mice decide with the spontaneity of children to have their own Mardi Gras. The ingredients for the festivities are streamers and confetti along with music, dance and big scary masks. The mice are so involved in their celebration that their ability to distinguish between reality and fantasy is diminished. They are lost in a world dominated by the ferocity that their masks invoked. Lionni magnifies this terror by the use of a double page spread with a dark murky background. Not wanting to be mean, he soon relents and brings on a strange mouse who is capable of relieving the mice of their torment.

Blue skies and soft clouds cushion the return of the field mice to reality. The horrors of their fantasy are neatly burned into oblivion with the masks. Greentail, however, is left with a constant reminder of that awful celebration. In her enthusiasm for Mardi Gras she had painted her tail green. The paint she used must have been indelible because no matter how hard she tries she can never get her tail clean.

People have wonderful ways of dealing with bad memories. Rather than regarding her tail as a scar or talking about her painful experience Greentail chooses to tell other mice that her green tail is the result of a festive occasion. Although this may not be the best way to cope with painful thoughts, it is what many people do.

But, when writing for children, I feel the author has an obligation to show them how to deal constructively with problems or fears that are raised in his story. Lionni takes the easy way out by allowing Greentail to hide her fear behind bright colors and cheerful words. Greentail merely exchanges a scary mask for one with an artificial smile, and the attractiveness of the new mask has the potential of fooling children into believing that prettiness and happiness are interchangeable.

It is a shame that a beautiful book was compromised for a slick ending.