Celeste is a mouse who is looking for a home.
Is it nestled in the toe of a warm boot?
In the shirt pocket of Celeste’s new friend Joseph, who is Audubon’s apprentice?
Or is home the place deep inside Celeste’s heart, where friendships live?
Amazon Best Books of the Month, March 2010: Celeste is not your average mouse. She lives alone, quietly weaving baskets with creative flair under the floor boards of the Oakley Plantation. However, Celeste’s world turns upside down with the arrival of the great naturalist John James Audubon and his assistant Joseph, who have come to study and paint the birds of the Louisiana bayou. Their arrival coincides with Celeste’s sudden displacement from her home below to a guest room upstairs. There she watches young Joseph struggle to create the backgrounds for Audubon’s bird paintings. As the two homesick souls strike up a friendship, the mouse secretly puts her artistic skills to good use; she simultaneously helps Joseph improve his compositions while aiding the wounded birds that Audubon captures for his studies. Nearly every page of author-illustrator Henry Cole’s fine novel combines text and remarkable drawn images to tell the story of a mouse in need of a home of her own from the tiny creature’s unique vantage point. Henry Cole’s A Nest for Celeste is a perfect choice for middle readers who enjoy animal adventure tales with a twist. –Lauren Nemroff
GreenBeanTeenQueen Reviews About the Book: Celeste is a mouse who lives in a small room inside a house who spends her time making baskets. She is often bullied by two large rats who take her food and one day Celeste is sent further into the house than she’s gone before. She befriends a young boy named Joseph, who is staying at the house with Mr. Audubon where they are drawing pictures of birds. Celeste meets many new friends along the way and discovers the meaning of home.
Visually and Written Book There couldn’t be a better description than, “Beautifully illustrated”. The illustrations are one of the reasons I will be mentioning this book over and over again.
A masterpiece that should win the Newbery Medal As someone who has loved the great anthropomorphizing stories – Kenneth Grahame, E.B.White, George Selden, Robert O’Brien, Tor Seidler etc – I was naturally drawn to this book when told about it. Having a young daughter named Celeste made it even more attractive. And finally, to discover that it was extensively illustrated with many double-page spreads used as backdrops to the text whetted my appetite even more. Couldn’t resist, so I bought it. And what a good thing I did. This is a modern…