Rebecca Graf, author of A Gift for a Mouse, agreed to answer some questions for me. With her permission, I share these answers with you. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.


Why did you choose to write a book on the life of Jesus from a mouse's point of view?
I honestly don’t remember. I was thinking one day of how everyone reads Biblical stories with preconceived ideas, but what if we looked at the scenes without knowing who this Jesus was or what His life meant? Would that make a difference? How could anyone look at the Last Supper and not know Him? From there my mind sort of morphed to a mouse and I was looking through his eyes. His ignorance would be the perfect way to tell the story from a whole new perspective.


This is the first book in a series. How many books do you plan on writing in the Redemption series?
I’m not entirely sure. I’m trying to take the last moments of Jesus’ life and look at them in bite size pieces. Next will be His time in the Garden of Gethsemane. It progresses from there. I have flirted with going back and looking at His earlier life.


Will each of the books have Thomas and his grandpa in them? Or are you going to use other animals beside mice?
Yes and yes. Thomas is the young soul looking for more. It is through his grandfather and others that he finds it. In fact, part of the ongoing story will be how unlikely animals become friends because of Jesus. The Garden will be seen through the eyes of a nightingale who tells young Thomas the story of what he saw. When Jesus goes to trial, who else but the cock who crowed could tell his story? My daughter, Catherine, helped me figure that animal out after I stupidly tried to use a cat. I’ll have to use the cat later, I guess. Each story will bring different characters together teaching Thomas how deep Jesus’ love really is.


Do you feel there is a need for more children's books to be written about the life of Jesus?
Yes, and no. (Love my clear answers?) There needs to be but they can’t be the same old thing. So few children have not heard of Him. It becomes the same old story. The danger there is that no one appreciates Him anymore or sees Him as anything but a good story. There is so much more there that the children of today need to see. Why can’t we look at the various techniques of writing and apply them to telling others about Jesus? Some of the greatest writers, such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, have done just that . Their works have been turned into major production movies and have stood the test of time. They delivered the message in a unique way that caught the eye of others.


Who did the pictures for your book? Can you tell us a bit about him?
These pictures are done by my dear friend whom I consider a brother, Reinhart Scherbarth, Sr. I call him “Bro” or “Reiny”. He started off as a dear friend of my husband, and he has become a part of our family. My kids only know him as “Uncle Reiny”. He is a tattoo artist and does excellent work though I still think anyone is nuts getting one. Not for me, but he does such a good job that I thought of him for these pictures. He enjoyed doing them. In fact, he is already working on the next book.


Since I am the one who edited this story, I received a free copy of the book from the author. If you would like your own copy of A Gift for a Mouse, it is available on Amazon through the link I have provided a link below.