Ratings4
Average rating3.5
The classic children’s fantasy of two mice on a mission to save a Norwegian poet—and the inspiration for the beloved 1977 animated Disney movie! “Miss Sharp’s delicate and sophisticated humor is good fun for wise children from age 10 to 100.” —Los Angeles Times Miss Bianca is a white mouse of great beauty and supreme self-confidence, who, courtesy of her excellent young friend, the ambassador’s son, resides luxuriously in a porcelain pagoda painted with violets, primroses, and lilies of the valley. Miss Bianca would seem to be a pampered creature, and not, you would suppose, the mouse to dispatch on an especially challenging and extraordinarily perilous mission. However, it is precisely Miss Bianca that the Prisoners’ Aid Society picks for the job of rescuing a Norwegian poet imprisoned in the legendarily dreadful Black Castle (we all know, don’t we, that mice are the friends of prisoners, tending to their needs in dungeons and oubliettes everywhere). Miss Bianca, after all, is a poet too, and in any case she is due to travel any day now by diplomatic pouch to Norway. There, Miss Bianca will be able to enlist one Nils, known to be the bravest mouse in the land, in a desperate and daring endeavor that will take them, along with their trusty companion Bernard, across turbulent seas and over the paws and under the maws of cats into one of the darkest places known to man or mouse. It will take everything they’ve got and a good deal more to escape with their own lives, not to mention the poet. Margery Sharp’s classic tale of pluck, luck, and derring-do is amply and beautifully illustrated by the great Garth Williams.
Featured Series
3 primary booksThe Rescuers is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 1959 with contributions by Margery Sharp.
Reviews with the most likes.
Frankly, I thought this is the book I read as a little girl, but it was not, it was Miss Bianca - the book Disney made the movie of. If I hadn't “re-read” this book, I would never have known, it was my first time reading it :-D
It is charming in its own way... not quite as charming as I remembered (though maybe Miss Bianca is )
I like the story, it is exciting and perfect adventure for children, with just enough scary things to make it a “realistic” adventure, but at the same time, it's safe.