A Mouse on the Loose and Two Terrifying Tales: A Christmas Companion with a Dark Twist

Hello everyone!

We're absolutely smitten with Tim the mouse and have snagged almost every book in the series.

The content from one book to the next gives us different emotions, but mostly positive ones.

Of course, we wanted to share the festive atmosphere with our beloved character.

The series has two books with New Year's stories: "Tim the Mouse Meets the New Year" and "Tim the Mouse Seeks Father Frost", and there's a mini-collection combining both - and that's the one I ended up buying

from Chayka City for 549 rubles.

✅ Description of the edition:

Text by Anna KazalisArtist Marco Campagnella and Caterina GiorgettiTranslation by Maria MelnychenkoPublisher RosmenFormat 84 x 100 1/16HardcoverPages: 54Age range 0+ to 3 years

The book looks very festive and celebratory. The gold foil-stamped title and glossy accents on the cover illustration. The endpapers are colorful with fragments of illustrations from the fairy tales. Inside, familiar illustrations from other books in the series by the two artists on a New Year's theme. The pages are thick, and for the first time, I've seen numbered pages in this series - the numbering starts from the cover. The content is at the end of the book.

✅ Book review:

The book includes two New Year's fairy tales: "Tim the Mouse Meets the New Year" and "Tim the Mouse Seeks Father Frost". In these stories, Tim not only decorates the Christmas tree, plays in the snow, and receives long-awaited gifts, but also learns the importance of doing good deeds - and not just on New Year's.

The series of books about the charming Tim the Mouse will help little ones understand, recognize, and name their emotions, learn to communicate with their peers, and cope with difficult situations.

It all looks very promising. We're eagerly awaiting cozy, kind, and tradition-filled New Year's celebrations.

My strategic mistake was not checking the content before buying.

This book left me in formal horror.

Both stories, in my opinion, are not just flops - they're downright scary!

I won't dissect the text, but I'll draw a direct analogy with our reality.

✅Story one. Imagine a kid who gets approached by a homeless person while out for a walk and asks for their belongings. The kid initially ignores the stranger, but later, as a form of payback for not doing a good deed from Santa Claus, brings the unfortunate person home, feeds them, and lets them stay overnight.

Vivid imagery, right? But not exactly the kind of lesson I want to teach my kid.

✅ Story two. Kids go out to play and get carried away by their imagination and belief in magic. They wander far from home, meeting various adults - familiar and unfamiliar faces - who encourage them to keep going further. The kids stumble upon a stranger's house and are invited in by the older man. They spend the evening there. (What's the reaction of the parents when their kids are gone for hours? They're worried, but don't ask any questions or have a talk about it). The next day, the kids gather some gifts and head back to their new acquaintance. The man tells them stories and fairy tales. The kids stay until it's dark. (There's a picture of the moon). The second story gives me the chills. I had to have a preventive talk with my kid about not going anywhere without asking and not entering a stranger's home without a parent.

This all culminates in a happy ending where the kid gets the desired gifts. In the end of the second story, the parents praise their son for helping the stranger.

I'm not making this up - I wrote it all based on facts, without adding, exaggerating, or embellishing anything.

"A fable is a lie, but it contains a truth."

I'm glad I read these stories before sharing them with my daughter.

Instead of a pleasant read, I had to have some preventive talks about adults who never ask for help from kids, but rather turn to other adults. About not going anywhere without a parent's knowledge. And not entering a stranger's home without a parent.

I think the idea could have been saved by involving the parents. In the first story, simply telling mom about the whole situation and gathering food and clothes for the homeless person together. In the second, adding a parent to join the kids on their forest walk. And teaching the value of helping the elderly through their grandparents - that's a bonus of family ties.

There's one thing that sets this book apart from the rest of the series - it's the only one without the 'Recommended by Psychologists' badge. Coincidence? I don't think so.

At first, I wanted to sell the book on Avito, but when I started writing this review, I realized just how disturbing it is and felt sorry for the other kids. My initial impulse was to cut it up into postcards, collages, and Christmas posters.

There's a silver lining in this otherwise terrible book - the idea of writing a letter to Father Christmas from a child who can't read or write is pure genius! I'm taking note of that one.

Be careful what your kids are reading! Take the time to really look through the content of these stories.

Despite all that, I still managed to get my hands on a book that combines a text-free story, a pre-Christmas theme, holiday prep, traditions, and adorable illustrations - All I wanted from Timmy the Mouse - found it with Sery the Rabbit

My overall impression of the Timmy the Mouse series.