Heidi Hart

This was a Christmas gift to my boys (4 and 1) from my dad. The 4-year-old and I enjoyed it; it didn't hold the baby's (still very limited) attention. Hermelin is a literate mouse who communicates by means of the old typewriter stored in the attic where she lives. She (actually, I'm only assuming she's a girl; I have no real basis for that) solves mysteries for her human neighbors--mostly finding lost objects, but once engineering the dramatic rescue of a baby from a garbage truck--but when the neighbors realize their benefactor is a mouse instead of a man, Hermelin's help suddenly becomes less welcome. 

The illustrations are whimsical and busy (in the sense of highly detailed, not busy as in unpleasantly cluttered), and the story is fun for the pre-k to early elementary child.