Super Toopy.

Liz Dennett is a public service librarian in the Science and Technology
Library at the University of Alberta.

Toopy is a fun and active mouse who loves spending time with his best friend, Binoo, a tiny white cat with a bit of a mischievous side. Binoo’s small size, stomach stitching, and lack of dialogue suggest that he might be a stuffed toy, but this does not get in the way of the two of them having a great time together. Their imaginative play is the basis for most of the books.

Abracadabra! has Binoo performing magic with a wand that an unaware Toopy is still reading the instructions for. Funny Halloween has Toopy ending up with more candy than Binoo thanks to some dubious counting methods. In The Lost Sleep, Binoo cannot sleep, so Toopy tries to find Binoo’s sleep by looking in popular fairy-tale locations that young children will enjoy recognizing. Toopy plays the title character in Little Red Toopy with Binoo as the Big Bad Wolf who lulls Toopy into a false sense of security by pretending to sleep. Robinson Toopy finds the little mouse and Binoo on a not-so-deserted deserted island longing for some peace and quiet. In Super Toopy, Binoo again tricks Toopy by pretending his hand is caught by a monster (gumball machine), so Super Toopy swoops in to the rescue.

Jolin’s text is simple and aimed at preschoolers but may be revisited by beginner readers. The text, however, takes second place to her illustrations, which give the books their energy and sense of fun and bring Toopy and Binoo to life. Recommended.