Tiny mouse in a big adventure
by Tsveta Belcheva
Brief summary of the book
The main character of this juvenile novel is called Ginger Rosmarine Longtail, or Jinji (Gingi, Gingy, Jingi) in short. She is a tiny mouse, known for being afraid of everything (especially scary noises). She lives in the mouse hole with her big mice family consisting of her mother, grannie and grandpa and many brothers and sisters. Her best friend is a platypus, called Roundy (he’s clumsy and shy, a little oversized), who is also a Kings’ official. They all live on a planet where humans and animals live together and speak same language.
One day the royal baby disappears mysteriously while playing in the yard and nobody is aware what to do. Grey times come into the Kingdom. Finally the Council of Elders gathers the habitants and informs them for their decision to send a rescue mission to find the baby. This mission is supposed to be compound of the bravest and cleverest beings around. Jingi immediately decides to go with the rescue mission, but nobody pays attention in the little creature. Even her friend Roundy tries to convince her that this mission is too dangerous for her and finally threatens to imprison her for breaching an old rule preventing mice going out of the village. Neither Jingi’s mother agrees to let her daughter out into the wild.
Despite all in the middle of the night the little mouse jumps out of the window of her room with a small rucksack on her back and starts her own rescue mission. Which way to go? The only clue she has is that she has to go East — where the Sun rises, because it was earlier presumed that the baby could be found on the contrary side of the Earth to their Kingdom as it disappeared through a whole in the ground that suddenly opened.
On her way she sees places she never imagined as she had never leaved her birthplace, she meets new friends and overcomes different challenges. One day she gets to a rock that she has to descend. At first she doesn’t know what to do and remembers a fairy from a tale that could use magic. Thus she starts thinking of wings, hoping they will magically grow on her back, but at the end she realises that magic won’t work. While trying to use the rope in her rucksack, she is suddenly taken on board by a bat called Kancho. Then she has to find out a way to get on the other side of a vast lake, thus meeting an old craftsman called Adolfo, who makes her a boat. After she almost drawn while crossing the lake, she is helped by two catfish. Then she gets to a place where the path ends. After some time she spends wondering what to do, she finally starts to see that in her feet there are some tiny creatures with strange clouds over their heads, showing their emotions. They result to be tree keepers, a little girl explains to her and shows her the way through the forest. One morning her song is heard by two dogs, absolute music lovers who offer her to attain a music show in their town.
Gradually, day after day Ginji is growing up and finding out that she is a responsible, amicable person, who always sees the good in others and tries to make good. Also she turns out to be very courageous.
One day she reaches a big town. She gets to a big crowded marketplace where one could find everything, as well as MOUSE BURGERS. Ginji is stunned when she gets to a stall where mice are smashed by an elephant called Spiro, whose eyes are covered and listens to the orders of a hyena. Ginji’s heart is going to explode when she sees several mice tended on a rope. She wants to immediately escape, but then she notices that something strange is happening with the big basket where mice are stored. Another brave mouse (Methoslav the Golden Hairspring) had entered intentionally into it, trying to save the captives. She immediately decides to help him, opening a hole into the basket. Finally hundreds of mice are let in freedom and start to run for their lives. The elephant Spiro panics and starts to smash everything around, where Ginji and Metho run into the forest. There they tell each other’s stories and become officially friends.
After some time Ginji realizes she had left her rucksack under the stall. So the two friends go back to town where they happen to meet the sad and scared to death elephant Spiro. As little Ginji can’t stand someone crying she rushes fearlessly to calm him down by singing him a song. Surprisingly Metho knew the words of the song and this is how they find out that they are cousins. Then Spiro tells them his story: several years ago Spiro had lost his loved one (Matilda) while buying her an ice-cream at a train station. Unfortunately the train left and leaved him alone, without knowing where he was. After being burgled, he was ‘saved’ by the hyena, who at the ends makes him his ‘slave’, thus resulting in smashing mice for burgers. Thus the three of them become friends and decide to continue their way together.
One day they enter the jungle where different animals start to pursue them, trying to attack the little mice and eat them. Spiro starts running quick to escape the prosecutors, but they fall in a hole into the ground. Everything looks scary and suspicious to Ginji, as while falling down she looses her two friends. Luckily it results that they have found Spiro’s real home.
A welcoming fest is organised to celebrate Spiro’s return. When Gingi is asked to tell her story and she mentions the lost baby, they become speechless and mysterious. They take her to a strange place, after passing long tunnels of different colours and sailing with a big boat. There she is presented to a strange creature — an old lady frog (Kroassane Flumbiber, magician) that turns out to know Gingi’s name, as well as everything about her. She even show her her family in a crystal ball. Kroassane tells Ginji that she had been waiting for her for a long time already and that she was the chosen one to take Spiro back to them.
The people from the Other Side Kingdom were to be known as the ones who preserve the World’s existence by keeping the seven precious stones that were to be changed every 130 years. These stones could not be found nowhere but in the body of some newborns. The elephants Spiro and Matilda turned to have been born carrying such precious stones. But one day the kings from Gingi’s Kingdom decided to steal the two baby elephants and made everything possible to impede the people of the Other Side Kingdom to find them. To do so they used also black magic. It took years to Kroasane’s grandpa to break the spell and he made a prophecy that one day a little mouse called Ginji will bring Spiro home. Time run out and nothing happened, so they decided to simulate the baby’s kidnapping as to provoke Ginji to start her journey and find the elephant. Ginji is shocked to hear that everything she had overcome was simply meant to be and that even an ugly old magician frog had helped her. She got angry that everyone was wanting to neglect all the effort she made to find the baby. The world seemed so UNFAIR to little Gingi.
Suddenly Gingi wakes up in her own room. Nobody acts as she has been gone for months. Everything looks normal and goes as usual. Her mother tells her that she had never left her bed and that she was ill for some time. Right then her friend Roundy comes around, announcing the arrival of a big Circus in town for the Baby’s Birthday party. Hearing that Ginji rushes out of home to find if the Circus was the Circus of the people of the Other Side Kingdom. While running she trips in a mole going out of its hole and twists badly her ankle. She is taken to a hospital. When seeing her mother she fills guilty for having escaped again from home and tries to apologise. But then an idea comes up to her. She simulates going to the bathroom and jumps out of the hospital window to find the Circus and seek justice.
When getting to the Circus place she couldn’t recognise a face. She sits on a bench and starts to cry. Suddenly she sees the sign of the shop next to her, inviting people to enter and have their future foretold. When she enters she insists that she want to see into her past. The chair of the mysterious fortuneteller turns around and there is Kroasane Flumbiber. Suddenly the curtains behind her are raised and everything transforms into a stage. All of Ginji’s friends that she met during the journey are among the public. Everyone is applauding her. They just wanted to surprise her.
Finally the little mouse is awarded a medal from the kings for having found the baby and they officially sign a Peace Treaty with the Other Side Kingdom, this time forever.
HAPPY ENDING!
Brief insider look of the book, including some illustrations:
In 2022 the Bulgarian artist and dramaturg Leti Manukova, creator of the initiative ‘Theatre in a Suitcase’ chose to base on the novel ‘Tiny mouse in a big adventure’ by Tsveta Belcheva her next project and created several series of online puppet theatre shorts with handmade dolls.
Leti Manukova also released an online Craft Atelier based on the novel shorts (DIY carboard puppet theatre).
Tsveta Belcheva is a self-publishing author of children books. She writes children stories (‘I want to be…/Stories of friendship and other stuff’), juvenile fiction novels (‘Tiny mouse in a big adventure’), detective stories (‘Inspector Boo series’) and educational novels (‘The Body Talks’).
In 2018 her book ‘The Body Talks’ is awarded 1st prize in category ‘The thing-searchers’, The Magic Pearl award’ (biserche.com; Detskiknigi Foundation), given by the children of Bulgaria.
Mother of three boys she wants to help children love books and thrive for adventure.
If interested in publishing our books, represent Tsveta Belcheva internationally or just want to get more information, please feel free to contact us on e-mail: tsvetabook@gmail.com
ЦВЕТА БЕЛЧЕВА - ДЕТСКИ ПИСАТЕЛ 