''Once a Mouse'' is a 1961 children's picture book by

Marcia Brown Marcia Joan Brown (July 13, 1918 – April 28, 2015) was an American writer and illustrator of more than 30 children's books. She has won three annual Caldecott Medals from the American Library Association, and three Caldecott Medal honors as an ...

. Released by

Scribner Press Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Rawli ...

, it was the recipient of the

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

for

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...

in 1962, the second time Brown received that honor.American Library Association
Caldecott Medal Winners, 1938 - Present
URL accessed 27 May 2009.

Plot

''Once a Mouse'' is a magical Indian fable that tells the story of a small mouse and a hermit that knows how to change animals into something else. One day the hermit is sitting under a tree when suddenly he sees a little, helpless mouse that is going to be eaten by a cat. The hermit decides to change the mouse into a cat. Later the old man sees the cat afraid of a dog and changes the cat into a dog. The next day the hermit sees a tiger trying to eat the dog and decides to change the dog into a majestic tiger. As the days pass, the majestic tiger begins to think that he is the king of the place and that all the animals must respect him including the old hermit. One day the hermit reminds the tiger that he is really a mouse and that he should not be acting the way he is acting. The tiger feels so angry that he decides to eat the hermit, but he does not know that the old man is able to read thoughts. Finally the hermit changes the tiger back into a mouse and tells him to learn how to take care of himself.

References

1961 children's books American children's books American picture books Fables Caldecott Medal–winning works English-language books Books about mice and rats Books about cats Books about dogs Books about tigers Fiction about shapeshifting India in fiction Jungles in fiction {{child-picture-book-stub