Shortlisted for:
• Finalist The Governor General's Award for Illustration
• Ontario Library Association Blue Spruce Award 2004
• Honour Book CLA Amelia Francis Howard Gibbon Award For Illustration
• Starred Recommendation, Canadian Children's Book Centre "Our Choice" Catalogue

Canadian Materials
"In the Subway Mouse, the artist has gone beyond her use of Plasticine to incorporate actual bits of subway trash in her pictures. The result is a visual feast for readers. Her delightful take is just the right length for reading aloud to primary age group at story time or bedtime. Highly recommended."

Kirkus Reviews
"Bits of real litter and found bric-a-brac in Reid's Plasticine subterranean scenes add an air of authenticity to this grand tale of a mouse who leaves his cozy subway station nest to find the fabled "Tunnel's End." Sparked by elder's stories of beauty and danger in a roofless land, young Nib sets off into the dark, encountering both hazards and companionship along the way, and ultimately emerging beneath the stars to find his goal exactly as terrifying and splendid as he has imagined it. Between the lines of silvery track and beneath rows of commuter's shoes, cuffs and ankles, big-eared mice with combed, furry bodies forage on two legs for scraps while trains hurtle by. Seen from mouse-eye level, the grimy, wonderfully detailed setting adds a tongue-in-cheek air, as well as making a properly vivid backdrop for this intrepid venture into the unknown."

100 Years Booklist
"Reid creates a charming, lively adventure in short, smoothly paced sentences, but it's her marvellous collage illustrations that really bring the characters and the richly imagined world to life. ...Children will enjoy poring over the detailed images of the world from a mouse's viewpoint, and many will see themselves in intrepid Nip, who feels at odds with his cacophonous family and dreams of a sweet, cozy nest of his own."

School Library Journal
"Reid's artwork is outstanding. The pictures were made "with plasticine that is shaped and pressed onto illustration board"; decorated with acrylic paint, found objects and other materials; and then photographed. The objects (Popsicle sticks, lollipops, candy wrappers, etc.) are used with great creativity. The images are both realistic and clever and have an inviting, three-dimensional appearance. Young children will pore over the details and older children will get ideas to create their own pictures."

Canadian Literature
"Here in the Subway Mouse, the story is told in prose, and although I was prepared to be carried away by the plasticine art, the prose narrative did its part, shaping the story from under the subway platforms to "Tunnel's End" and open and roofless world of beauty and danger. The setting of the subway station provides ample opportunities for stray objects to be incorporated into the art. Although readers might spend hours identifying the Sunmaid Raisin box, coffee Crisp wrapper and crumpled newspaper story, they will also be moved to follow the white feather and the narrative to the end of the tunnel where they, with Nib and his new friend Lola, discover the immense colourful space of the open world. Flavoured by "the town mouse and the country mouse," The Subway Mouse is a contemporary Canadian and specifically Toronto text. A Crayola Crayon, pieces of a city map, and crumpled newspapers ads for apartments on Yonge Street are embedded into Nib's nest and Reid's volume. Seeing the subway and city world's from Nib's perspective reminds us of the "small things" we need to notice."

Parents Choice Foundation
"This satisfying story pictures the continuum of life; growing up, leaving home, and beginning a new life."

McLean's Magazine
"Toronto author Barbara Reid's Plasticine art renders Nib's garbage-strewn subterranean world as enchanting as the starlit sky and grassy lands that ultimately greet him."

Toronto Star
"Reid's observant eye and magic with Plasticine make every page an intriguing work of art. Subway debris, the view of socks, shoes and shins, which is all Nib gets from his place below the track, and even he squinched up faces of wee mousies cozying in a crowded nest, provide children with great visual interest - even insight into emotion, mood and character."

Reviews for The Subway Mouse Video Edition, narrated by the author

Video Librarian (Three-star review)
"...Featuring a bouncy soundtrack, this beautiful looking children's film is definitely recommended."

Booklist
"Effective sound effects (echoing trains, rustling papers, squeaking mice, and a hissing feline) greatly enhance composer Eric Miller's evocative score. Even though the camera deftly glides over the innovative illustrations, it is impossible for a film to completely capture Reid's inventive collages. Youngsters may want to seek out the book and follow along."