On this occasion, moreover, the book sends a clear message. Lionni tells us about mice. At first, Alex's mouse is fugitive: “Help! Help! A mouse! -Then a hum. Mugs, saucers and spoons flying everywhere. Alex ran away to the mouse hole as quickly as his patits allowed him.” Poor Alex does not rest, he wants some food (a few crumbs) and instead receives continuous screams and broom threats.

But one day, Alex hears a crackle and meets another mouse in his house. A mechanical mouse, a mouse that's circulating thanks to a key that's on two wheels and on the back.

Alex wants to be like the mechanical mouse Gille, Ane’s favorite toy, who sits well among his own, “who in the evening sleeps on a soft pillow between the wrist and the hairy teddy bear.” And so he'll do his best to turn it into a mechanical mouse. And the moment this happens, the moment a mouse can be transformed like another, Alex discovers that the mechanical mouse has been thrown into the trash, because old toys have been replaced by new ones. So that big heart that's inside Alex will look for a solution for both of them, for the mechanical mouse and for him.

The color vitality that has not accustomed us to illustrations makes this work even more beautiful. Mugs, dolls, papers on the walls of the house, bedding or magic lizard are painted in vivid and varied colors, creating joyful and curious combinations. Along with them, however, we have Alex's gray (and Gille's mechanical mouse), but just as Leo Lionni has achieved in previous work, the sensations, the feelings of the mouse are perfectly reflected.

It's a beautiful book, Alex and the mechanical mouse, one of the most aesthetic books about friendship. Translation runs well and young children can follow the story very well. Ask for silence, put yourself in a circle, or sit next to you, and start… “A scream was heard. / Help! Help! A mouse!”