The Subway Mouse by Barbara Reid

This is a cute story about a mouse named Nib who lives in a mouse community underneath a subway. It is very loud and the choices for food are minimal but he loves having other mice around him for safety and for company. Every night the elderly rats tell stories of a place called Tunnel's End. In this "magical" land there is fresh air and an abundance of food. The problem is that most mice never make it to Tunnel's End. There are monsters on the way there and there is an extreme shortage of food. After hearing about this place night after night he decides that he wants to find this place and sets of to do so. The other mice tell him he will never make it and that he will have to turn back. Along the way he finds that they might be right but he keeps going to reach his goal.

This is a great book to show the importance of perseverance. Although everyone told Nib that he would not make it and that he would have to turn around he kept going. He was met with many struggles and he persevered and kept working towards his goal. It shows that working towards a goal, and working hard, will be rewarded when you finally achieve it. I think children would enjoy this book because it puts it into a different perspective but is still easy to understand how it relates.

The illustrations are also very intersting in this book. They give the book a different feel and i think they really compliment the story.