Will the Real Stuart Little Please Come Forwardįor generations of readers, the quiet, thoughtful mouse of White's Stuart Little is the only Stuart Little.
(Because they do not want Stuart to feel uncomfortable about this fact, they avoid using the m-word in his presence.) The movie sidesteps this mystery by having Stuart's human family adopt him from an orphanage. In the book, a human family is surprised to find that their son happens to be very small and look just like a mouse.
In contrast, the movie keeps Stuart close to home.Īnother matter of controversy has been the wondrous nature of Stuart's birth. This is perhaps too elusive an idea to put in a book for children, but I put it in anyway." The book is a quest story, the tale of a lone hero who leaves his family to embark on a difficult personal journey. White said it is about "the continuing journey that everybody takes-in search of what is perfect and unattainable. Many do think Stuart Little is best understood by older readers. Meanwhile, newspapers reviewed the book almost as though it were a work of fiction for adults. Not for Tots?Īt the time it was published some critics expressed concern that Stuart Little was "bad for children"-the story too open-ended, the main character too independent. White made suggestions and comments, in one letter expressing delight that Williams had drawn shoes that are "just right for a mouse's feet." White himself found a model for Harriet Ames (a character who does not appear in the movie) in a clipping from a Sears catalogue. White and Williams discussed every detail of the illustrations. White's editor complained that "it is terribly difficult to draw ATTRACTIVE mice" and went through no less than eight illustrators before signing up Williams, a prize-winning sculptor. It was also the first book illustrated by renowned artist Garth Williams. Some twenty years later he expanded and collected the stories as Stuart Little, published in 1945. White wrote a few episodes about this boy who looked like a mouse and then tucked them away in a drawer, thinking he might one day share them with his nieces and nephews. The character of Stuart Little first appeared in a dream to famed essayist E. White called the "shy, pleasant manner of a mouse." Dreaming It Up Fox, who provides the character's screen voice, than the little hero who had what creator E.
Some think the cinematic Stuart was modeled more after Michael J. Infoplease Staff The Story Behind Hollywood's Big Mouse by Holly HartmanĪfter more than half a century as a quietly beloved literary figure, Stuart Little has become a cash cow of a mouse-the grinning, computer-generated star of a $90 million movie and the subject of seven new books, as well as a line of products that includes plush toys, games, and a mouse-shaped backpack.
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