An endearing story of love between a father and daughter mouse. In this endearing story about a father and his child, Longtail is always so much faster than Littletail. He's also so much cleverer. But that won't be forever, Longtail tells Littletail. At the end of a busy day, as Littletail curls up in their nest, Longtail reminds her of the one thing that will stay the same--always and forever. PreSchool-K-Two brown field mice, a father and daughter, scamper and scurry through the woods on a bright, sunny day. When Littletail challenges Longtail to a race, he wins, but he reminds his downcast youngster that one day she will be too big for him to catch. During hide-and-seek, Longtail easily finds Littletail, but he reminds her that she will grow to be cleverer as well. In a game of follow the leader, her father gets stuck because he is too big to follow her through the roots of an old tree, and he tells a triumphant Littletail that one day she will be as big as he. That evening, just before a very tired little mouse falls asleep in their cozy nest, Longtail kisses her good night and tells her what will last "always and forever." Large, realistic illustrations filled with wildflowers and berries provide a soothing backdrop to the mice romping in the woods. Wonderful for bedtimes and storytimes, this is a simple, heartwarming tale of companionship and a parent's unconditional love.— Linda Staskus, Parma Regional Library, OH Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Kirkus Father and daughter mice beautifully illustrate the special bond between parent and child in Emmett's latest. Littletail and Longtail spend the day in the forest playing games: chase, hide-and-seek and follow the leader. Although Littletail is good at these games, Longtail is always better. But Longtail reassures her that he won't always be bettersomeday she will be faster, cleverer and just as big as he is. But one thing will always be the same, no matter what: I love you always and forever.” This is one of those standouts where text and illustrations are in perfect unison. Howarth's huge mice take center-stage, giving readers a mouse's perspective and highlighting his masterful portrayal of facial expressions. He achieves the ideal balance between cuteness and realistic detail. Like others in this style, this has the potential to begin a loving tradition in any young family. (Picture book. 2-8) I was born in Leicestershire in 1965, the son of a rig fitter and a primary school teacher. I was fascinated with books from an early age. As a small boy, I reorganised the spare bedroom of our house into a library for my parents' books. This might sound like a helpful thing for a child to do, but instead of ordering the books by subject or author, they were organised by size and colour, which made more sense to me at the time. I can remember visiting our local library as a toddler. The picture books that we borrowed then, including "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak, "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss and "Harold and the Purple Crayon" by Crockett Johnson have had a great influence on the picture books that I now write. The first children's novel that I read on my own was "The Folk of the Faraway Tree" by Enid Blyton. I went on to read other popular children's authors like C. S. Lewis, but like many children of my generation, the author who made the biggest impression on my early childhood was Roald Dahl. It wasn't until I was about fourteen years old that it occurred to me that I might write for a living. I tried to make the covers of my school rough books look like the covers of novels. I produced a whole "Ruf Notes" trilogy as well as "A Complete Guide to Ruf Notes" each with its own reviews and biographical details on the inside covers and publisher's blurb on the back. Of course, there was nothing inside the books -except the rough notes that I took during lessons! In 1984 I came to Nottingham to study architecture. It was while I was at college that I first started developing my skills as a writer and illustrator. I was in a band for a short time - it was a pretty crummy band. We never even played a gig, we just fooled around pretending to rehearse. But, because I was the only one that couldn't play an instrument, I had to sing (I am using the word 'sing' very loosely here) and this meant that I also had to write lyrics. I enjoyed this and kept on writing lyrics and poems long after the band had become no more than an embarrassing memory. Then, one day, I decided to try to do an illustration to accompany the lyrics to one of the songs. I was pleased with the result, so I illustrated some of my poems, spending more and more time on each picture. Click here to see some of these early illustrations! As an architect, I worked on a wide variety of projects including an art gallery, a theatre and an airport check-in building. However, I was never very happy in the job and was alw