The True Story of a Mouse Who Never Asked for It

The True Story of a Mouse Who Never Asked for It is a visually striking, deeply feminist, contemporary retelling of a Spanish folk tale, rediscovered and brought to new life by author Ana Cristina Herreros and illustrator Violeta Lopiz. In Herreros and Lopiz’s version--which sharply diverges from the most mainstream and popularized telling of the story--a mouse is approached by many suitors, rejecting all but one: a cat, whose gentle meow assures her that he won’t bring her harm. But one must remember that a kitten always grows up to be a cat...and thusly, will devour the mouse.

A philologist and folklore specialist, Ana Cristina Herreros combines her work as an editor with her day job as a professional storyteller (under the name Ana Griott) and has performed in libraries, theaters, prisons, cafés, schools, and parks since 1992. With Ediciones Siruela, she has also published Cuentos populares del Mediterráneo, Libro de Monstruos españoles, Libro de Brujas españolas, Geografía mágica y Cuentos populares de la Madre Muerte. Chloe Garcia Roberts is a poet and translator from the Spanish and Chinese. She is the author of a book of poetry, The Reveal, which was published as part of Noemi Press’s Akrilika Series for innovative Latino writing. Her translations include Li Shangyin’s Derangements of My Contemporaries: Miscellaneous Notes (New Directions), which was awarded a PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant, and a collected poems of Li Shangyin published in the New York Review Books / Poets series. Her translations of children’s literature include Cao Wenxuan’s Feather (Archipelago Books/Elsewhere Editions) which was an USBBY Outstanding International Book for 2019, and Decur’s When You Look Up (Enchanted Lion) which was named a Best Children’s Book of 2020 by the New York Times. Her essays, poems, and translations have appeared in the publications BOMB, Boston Review, A Public Space, Kenyon Review, Spoon River Poetry Review and Gulf Coast among others. She lives outside Boston and works as managing editor of Harvard Review. Violeta Lópiz is a Spanish illustrator currently living in Peru. She has illustrated numerous books including The Forest (Enchanted Lion Books, 2018), which was selected as a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of 2018, Amigos do Peito (Bruaa, 2014), and Les poings sur les îles (Editions du Rouergue, 2011), which received the CJ Picture Book Award 2011 in the New Books category. She has participated in exhibitions in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Israel, Turkey, USA, Japan, Korea, and more. El Cultural, the supplement of El Mundo, considers her one of the top ten names of contemporary Spanish illustration. Her work can be found in bookstores, streets, fairs, newspapers, and the thousands of notebooks that she leaves scattered around.