Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Mar 2010
352 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
A beautifully illustrated novel about a mouse, her friendship with Audubon's apprentice, and her search for home.
Beneath the crackled and faded painting of a horse, underneath the worn and dusty floorboards of the dining room, lives Celeste, a mouse who spends her days weaving baskets, until one day she is thrust into the world above. Here Celeste encounters danger—and love—unlike any she's ever imagined. She dodges a hungry cat and witnesses the brutality of hunting for the first time. She makes friends with a singing thrush named Cornelius, a talkative osprey named Lafayette, and Joseph, Audubon's young apprentice. All the while, Celeste is looking for a new home. Is her home in the toe of a worn boot? Nestled in Joseph's pocket? Or in the dollhouse in the attic, complete with mouse-size furniture perfect for Celeste? In the end, Celeste discovers that home is really the place deep inside her heart, where friendships live.
"Amazon Best Books of the Month, March 2010: A perfect choice for middle readers who enjoy animal adventure tales with a twist." - Lauren Nemroff
"Starred Review. Evocative illustrations, compelling characters, and thoughtful reflections on the nature of home combine to powerful effect." - Publishers Weekly
"The story's bittersweet conclusion is...unsatisfying. What sets the book apart are the charming pencil illustrations that appear throughout, sometimes filling whole pages—a story about making art, full of art." - School Library Journal
This information about A Nest for Celeste was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ages 8–12. Henry Cole is the talented illustrator of more than forty books for children, including the New York Times bestselling The Leprechaun's Gold by Pamela Duncan Edwards, the nationally bestselling Little Bo by Julie Andrews, and many picture books written by himself, including On Meadow Street. A Nest for Celeste is his first novel.
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