{{Short description|1980 children's book by Julia Cunningham}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}} {{Infobox book | name = A Mouse Called Junction | author = Julia Cunningham | illustrator = Michael Hague | genre = Children's fiction | country = United States | language = English | pages = 32 (unpaged)<ref name=rdg-teacher>{{cite journal |title=Children's choices for 1981: 'A Mouse Called Junction' |journal=The Reading Teacher |date=October 1981 |volume=35 |number=1 |page=61 |url=https://jstor.org/stable/20195401 |access-date=2024-06-16 |publisher=Wiley |jstor=20195401 |issn=0034-0561 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> | publisher = Pantheon Books<ref name=slj>{{cite magazine |last1=Nickerson |first1=Mary B. |title=Review: 'A Mouse Called Junction' |magazine=School Library Journal |date=May 1980 |volume=26 |issue=9 |page=53 |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=5950788&site=ehost-live |access-date=2024-06-16 |issn=0362-8930 |url-access=registration |via=EBSCOhost}}</ref> | published = March 12, 1980<ref name=kirkus>{{cite magazine |title=Review: 'A Mouse Called Junction' |magazine=Kirkus Reviews |date=1980-04-01 |url=https://kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/julia-cunningham/a-mouse-called-junction/ |access-date=2024-09-23 |issn=1948-7428}}</ref> | isbn = 0-394-84112-3 | image = File:A_Mouse_Called_Junction.png }} '''''A Mouse Called Junction''''' is a 1980 children's picture book by Julia Cunningham, with illustrations by Michael Hague. About a young mouse who ventures into the forest in search of emotions and is adopted by a rat, it received mixed reviews that praised Hague's illustrations but criticized the text and ending.

== Synopsis == Junction, the youngest mouse in his family, lives a cozy life without having ever experienced emotions. One day, he leaves his home for the first time in search of them, and in doing so, encounters the dangers of the forest. When an owl carries him off, he is rescued by a rat whom the forest animals warn is a threat, but comes to adopt him and treats him like a prince.<ref name=slj/><ref name=nyt>{{cite news |last1=Babbitt |first1=Natalie |last2=McHargue |first2=Georgess |author1-link=Natalie Babbitt |author2-link=Georgess McHargue |title=Children's Books |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/423981610 |access-date=2024-06-16 |work=The New York Times |date=1980-09-14 |page=A.38 |id={{ProQuest|423981610}} |url-access=registration }}</ref>

== Themes == In ''The New York Times'', Natalie Babbitt wrote: "Perhaps the point of the book is this: Test things out for yourself instead of accepting ready-made opinions. Maybe. But the fact that it can be read in two such different ways is surely significant."<ref name=nyt/> According to ''Kirkus Reviews'', "One might speculate on why the mouse is called Junction, but not very profitably. Cunningham shows him at a junction in his life, a protected wide-eyed innocent eager for experience and unacquainted with tears, fear, or hunger."<ref name=kirkus/>

== Reception == Publisher Pantheon Books promoted ''A Mouse Called Junction'' as "a picture book of classic majesty".<ref name=star-telegram>{{cite news |last1=Teague |first1=Raymond |title=Books: Children's bookshelf: Workshops for July, monsters for all seasons |url=https://newspapers.com/article/fort-worth-star-telegram-childrens-boo/154409191/ |access-date=2024-09-01 |work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |date=1980-05-25 |page=7E |url-access=limited |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Reviews were mixed; the ''School Library Journal'' criticized the text for its "surprising illogic and insensitivity", along with its ending, at the expense of Hague's "rich, detailed, darkly mysterious" watercolor work.<ref name=slj/> Ruth M. Stein of ''Language Arts'' expressed similar feelings,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stein |first1=Ruth M. |title=Book reMARKS: 'A Mouse Called Junction' |journal=Language Arts |date=September 1980 |volume=57 |number=6 |page=647 |url=https://jstor.org/stable/41405016 |access-date=2024-06-16 |publisher=National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) |jstor=41405016 |issn=0360-9170 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> as did Babbitt. "There is something disturbing about this story," the latter wrote, "something vaguely kinked in the suggestion that there is pleasure in discomfort.... And the richness of Julia Cunningham's language only compounds the problem."<ref name=nyt/> The ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' found it "a so-what book" that came off as "rather shallow and forced."<ref name=star-telegram/>

Conversely, ''The Reading Teacher'' said, "The beauty of the language and the full-page illustrations make this [story] a winner."<ref name=rdg-teacher/> ''The Poughkeepsie Journal'' likewise praised it for its "exceedingly polished prose and superb artistry".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pierce |first1=Barbara |title=From the Children's Bookshelf: 'Junction' features polished prose, first class art |url=https://newspapers.com/article/poughkeepsie-journal-review-of-a-mouse/154407878/ |access-date=2024-09-01 |work=The Poughkeepsie Journal |date=1980-07-20 |page=17B |url-access=limited |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Jane Yolen of Massachusetts' ''Daily Hampshire Gazette'' commended its strengths, but added, "I wish this had been a bigger[, older] book. It feels like a sketch for something more sophisticated."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Yolen |first1=Jane |title=People and life: Children's bookfare: Talking birds and chattering beasts make good book fare |url=https://newspapers.com/article/daily-hampshire-gazette-reviews-of-a-mo/154408896/ |access-date=2024-09-01 |work=Daily Hampshire Gazette |date=1980-06-06 |location=Northampton, Massachusetts |page=12 |url-access=limited |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mouse Called Junction, A}} Category:1980 children's books Category:American picture books Category:Children's books about mice and rats Category:Pantheon Books books