Nicolas, Where Have You Been?

Synopsis

When the young mouse Nicolas sets out across the great meadow alone in search of ripe red berries, he is grabbed up by the claws of a huge bird and carried high into the sky. But that is only the beginning of Nicolas's adventure. How he gets the berries he was hoping to find, and learns to trust the very creatures he thought were his enemies, makes this Leo Lionni fable one that young children will want to hear again and again.
Originally published in 1987, and unavailable in any edition for a decade, this book's theme of not judging an entire species by the bad behavior of one has a special resonance with today's reader.

Annotation

Mishap turns to adventure as a young mouse learns that all birds aren't the enemies he thought they were.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3 The mice community is angered by the birds who continually pick the sweetest berries, while the mice are left with the unripened ones. When Nicholas goes in search of a berry patch unscathed by birds, he is snatched up by a large black bird, falls into a nest sheltering three baby birds, becomes friendly with them, and finally returns to his fellow mice, telling them of the good deeds of the bird family. The large white pages are filled with Lionni's marbleized, textured, and color paper collages. The green foliage provides a satisfying brightness to the grays, browns, and blacks. His mice and birds are well developed and multi-dimensional with their sharp-lined shapes and body parts. Facial expressions of anger and confusion are particularly effective. The text is composed of brief sentences that aptly support each page of action. The story is a little heavy-handed in its message (i.e., the final scene in which one mouse says, ``One bad bird doesn't make a flock'')a saccharine ending to an otherwise delightful story. The book has potential for prompting classroom discussions. Mary Beth Burgoyne, Mesa Public Library, Ariz.