Behind the scenes: I wrote the story One Little Mouse in the 1960s.  While I was submitting stories to publishers and children's magazines at that time, I had no true experience in writing or selling rhyming works, so never made an attempt to sell it.  The story was tucked away in a basement box  for more than 30 years. While cleaning the basement one day, I came across the box of old manuscripts, and needing a break, sat down and leafed through the contents.  I found the story.  I liked the story.  My critique group liked the story.  An agent liked the story.  An editor liked the story.  So there you have it in a nut shell.  Persevere!

School Library Journal
A charming counting book that will appeal especially to the read-aloud set. As a little mouse searches for a new shelter, he visits nine woodland families and tries living in their various homes. Finding each one unsatisfactory (the moles' "diet was wormish,/And that made Mouse squirmish"), he realizes that his own home is just right after all. The text has a comforting cadence that is maintained throughout the book. Readers are introduced to one mouse on the first page, two moles on the second, three meadow frogs on the third, and so on up to 10 opossums. Pham's watercolor-and-gouache illustrations are printed on Arches Cold Press paper and do an excellent job of expressing the adorable mouse's emotions at each home he visits. The spreads each consist of a full-sized color illustration facing easy-to-read text fitted neatly around a smaller, complementary painting depicting the mouse's discomfort. Each text page begins with a number spelled out in colored letters in a larger font. As the story comes to a close, the mouse passes each of the nine other sleeping families on his way back home. Children will delight in searching them out, and will come away from the story with the subtle message that whether it's a tree, hole, or house, there's no place like home.
Cathie E. Bashaw, Somers Library, NY
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Booklist
The story of one little mouse looking for a roomier place to live is told in pithy verse. Children will learn to count forward and backward to 10 as the mouse encounters two moles, three frogs, four quail, etc., potential roommates all. Pham's excellent pictures--a full-page painting on one page and spot art facing--are executed in watercolor and gouache, and they bring the meadow setting alive. Looking as though he stepped from one of the best Disney cartoons, this adventurous mouse has personality, and the humor shines through as he reacts to being in the other animals' homes. Even the youngest listeners will enjoy predicting where the little mouse ends up. The book ends with scenes of the meadow at night with all the animals sleeping: "And one little mouse, / One tired little mouse, / One content little mouse, / Sound asleep in his house." Kathy Broderick
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved