In The Lord of the Rings, the small hero, Frodo the hobbit, screws up his courage to undertake the terrible task of destroying the deadly One Ring: "I will take the Ring," he said,"though I do not know the way."
Elrond raised his eyes and looked at him........."This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields, to shake the towers and counsels of the Great.Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it?"
Small heroes are classic....and that is one of the things that is so appealing about Graham Oakley's marvellous Church Mice series.
Recently in an idle moment when I could and should have been doing any number of other things, I Googled the books, wondering if our collection was complete. To my astonishment, it turns out the whole series is out of print, and the volumes we are missing ourselves go for the kind of price that would make you want to put the book in a glass case and never touch it!
I'm not interested in collectibles as such, I'm afraid. My 1980s X-Men comic books are in a disgraceful condition from re-reading and more re-reading. So the Church Mice Take a Break and Humphrey will have to wait until the publisher sees sense and brings the series back into print...or at least until I can get the library to order them.
These cleverly illustrated tales of the diminutive murine (yes I had to look it up) heroes ooze charm but never quite topple over into excessive sentimentality, thanks to the author-illustrator's brilliant poking-fun at the foibles of the mice and other inhabitants of Wortlethorpe, quintessential sleepy English village.
It's the tolerance of foibles, without allowing the tyranny of foibles, that makes the community of church mice so appealing. And the way these small, small heroes-- with a little help from Sampson the Church Cat-- overcome the villains of their various adventures. If they can do it, why not us?
try them out, if you can get hold of them.....the Christmas book is one of my favorites.
