Family Mouse - Translator Workbook - 8apr11

Family Mouse behind the Wheel
Text : Wolfgang Zuckermann

Illustrations : Roger Tweedt
Concept/Production : Eric Britton
P. 1
Text & working materials in support of planned 2011 English, other language editions
This is the story of Family Mouse,
And how a car became their house.
When Grandma asked them to come and stay,
They knew they had to find a way.
So they bought a car which seemed like fun,

It was, after all, the only one!
But soon all the others had one too,
The roads were blocked, with no way through.
Then what became of our furry friends?

Open this book an d see how it ends!
Story behind the Family Mouse
FM was born of a creative process that involved three people working together over a period
of several months in the winter of 1992. The process was set off by Eric Britton, who had
been pondering for some time of ways to engage children in the work that he and a number of
international colleagues were taking on to advance the cause of sustainable mobility,
sustainable cities and sustainable lives. This led to a conversation with his old friend
Wolfgang Zuckerman who had been working with him on these issues as writer/editor for
several years; and between the two of them they gradually began to sort out a plan and theme.
In a next step Eric brought in the illustrator Roget Tweedt who has already done a series of
successful children's books based on very large figures and bright colors , and the three
started a regular brainstorming process. Gradually the concept of a family of mice, facing
what are after all rather typical challenges of modern society took shape, and a few month
later Family Mouse was ready for the presses. The original book went through several
editions and was widely distributed with the help of collaborating groups and individuals
around the world, and was eventually procured by people in more than thirty countries. In
addition a German language version was developed in collaboration with Professor A.-E.
(Tom) Bongard and published and distributed in more than seven thousand copies to schools
across Germany and Austria.
The plan is now to create a lightly edited new edition of which working copies of the images
and the intended text follow. Our hope is to find a way to make it available to children,
families and schools in many parts of the world and in many languages. Language edition
partnerships are presently forming up with friends and collaborators in the following
languages: Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
. . . and this is just getting started. (See translator notes at end of this working document.)
As to the mechanics both of production and distribution, as well as the economics, this has
yet to be figured out. But we have to start somewhere and what you have in the following is
our first step. Please get in touch with your ideas and inspiration. Like everything we do here
at World Streets this is a collaborative project. Here is how to get in touch:
World
Streets
Eric Britton, Managing Director, 8, rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris

Tel +331 7550 3788 eric.britton@worldstreets.org Skype: newmobility
By Wolfgang Zuckermann , Roger Tweedt and Eric Britton
Illustrations by Roger Tweedt

Text by Wolfgang Zuckermann ,
Concept/production by Eric Britton
The Lutterworth Press

Cambridge, UK
P. 2
The Lutterworth Press
P.O. Box 60
Cambridge CB1 2NT
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:

A record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 0-7188-2834-8
First published by The Lutterworth Press, 1992

Copyright © EcoPlan International Association, 1992
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical,
electronic, photocopying or recording without the prior permission in writing of
the publisher.
Printed in Hong Kong
P. 3
Family Mouse and Friends:

Alvin:
Work, work, work, that's all he sees

To keep his family in cheese
Mother:
She's the one who runs the show

While Alvin's out there on the go
Large:
What he loves is speed and noise

And making mischief with the boys
Media:
This little tomgirl's really tough

To keep up with Large, she'll play it rough
Small:
When he does not eat or cry

He complains or asks you "why?"
Big Zig the Pig:
He'll do anything to get the deal

That puts the mice behind the wheel
Eric the Crow:
Knock down the old to put up the new?

And out comes his sign – No Can Do!
P. 4
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, a family of mice lived in a big old tree
right in the middle of a large green forest.
One fine day they received a letter from their lonely grandmother in the city
asking them to come for a visit.
P. 5/6
Father Alvin read the letter to the three children, Large, Medium and Small,
while Mamma Mouse served the cheese soup.
"But how are we going to get there?" asked Medium who, being a girl, was also
sometimes called Media.
"By train, of course," replied Mamma.
"Don't be silly," smirked Large (who was a wise guy). "All the trains stopped
stopping here years ago."
"Well," said Alvin, "then we'll just have to buy a car."
"Wowee!" screamed the children.
P. 7/8
The very next day father Mouse went to see the used car dealer, Ziggy the Pig.
After looking at dozens and dozens of cars Alvin picked a red one, which had
only been driven by an old church-mouse once a week on Sundays. (Or at least
that's what Ziggy said.)
Alvin couldn't wait to get home and show it to his family.
P. 9/10
But when Alvin got to the edge of the forest he suddenly realized …
There were no roads where he lived!
That made him scratch his head.
What do to?
P. 11/12
Since he was president of the forest council, Alvin decided to call a meeting.
But only two other members showed up: Gus the Goose and Eric the Crow.
Gussie, who waddled instead of walking, like the idea of a road and voted YES.
Eric was against progress, because he always liked things better the way they
used to be. So he voted NO.
But Gussie and Alvin made it two FOR the road.
P. 13/14
33
Beaver Construction Inc got the building job.
Working fast they began to chew down all the trees that blocked the path for the
new road. That new road was going to get built!
Only Eric the Crow was there to protest. All alone.
P. 15/16
The beavers were eager like, well, beavers, and so the road was soon finished.
When it was, Family Mouse packed all their things and took off for the city.
"This is terrific," they thought as they buzzed along.
Large loved going fast. Mamma couldn't wait to shop in the city. Media played
with the balloon that Ziggy gave away free with every car. Even Small stopped
complaining for once.
"We should have built this road a long time ago," thought Alvin.
But just at that moment, he saw something coming toward him.
P. 17/18
It was a big yellow convertible which just blocked the one lane road. In it was
Herman the Deer who had just bought his car from Ziggy and was going fast in
the opposite direction.
That became the first traffic jam in the history of the forest. After a lot of
honking and yelling, Alvin decided to call another meeting.
P. 19/20
This time all the animals came.
Big Zig the Pig was the guest speaker.
"You don't want to widen that little road. What you need is to build a whole
freeway system!"
That's what Ziggy said. So everybody voted YES – except Eric the Crow.
P. 20/21
Now the beavers went back to work. And this time they meant business.
This time they chewed down all the trees in the forest. Every one of them.
When they had finished, there was nothing left but roads – as far as your eyes
could see.
Now Family Mouse could surely get to the city to see their grandmother?
P. 22/23
But alas, in a twinkling – before Family Mouse could get out of the old forest,
all other animals had also bought cars from Ziggy. Some had even bought two.
And then tourists came from all over to see the marvellous new road system. So
… traffic was soon blocked in all directions.
P. 24/25
Poor old Family Mouse – they just couldn't move! What could they do now?
Just give up and go back home. So off they went looking for their cozy little
house in that big old tree.
But when they got there they found their tree was … GONE!
P. 26/27
Oh dear! There was nothing left for them to do.
They had to move into their car, which was parked because it couldn't move –
beside that noisy, smelly, risky highway.
One smoggy day they got another letter from their grandmother in the city.
This time she said she was tired of living in the noisy town and was thinking of
moving to the peaceful forest.
If only she knew what had happened!
Oh well, we guess you can't stop progress …
Or can you?
Text to preceding page:
But what became of Family Mouse?

A car is really not a house
So when the kids went out to play
They came to a place not far away
And Large called out: "Come here and see,

I've found another big old tree!"
Then off they went (without their car)
To their new tree in forest far
And there they lived in joy and laughter

As far as we know forever after.
Though Mouse and pals are all o.k.
The roads they built are here to stay.
Here's what we've learned from this affair

To trees be kind. Of cars beware!
Note to translators:
The original Based on our experience thus far with the French, German and Italian
translations, you face a task which has more to it than finding the corresponding words for
the 1,258 English words that make up this text. There are also the cultural aspects: how
does that phrase, that thought, that image work in your culture. And this is where it
becomes art. So to the extent that we can be of any help in sorting out any particularly
knotty part (and we like doing that since we learn a lot on the process), well you know how
to get in touch and that we are here and ready to talk about this with you.
World
Streets
Eric Britton, Managing Director, 8, rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris

Tel +331 7550 3788 eric.britton@worldstreets.org Skype: newmobility

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Family Mouse behind the Wheel

Text : Wolfgang Zuckermann

This is the story of Family Mouse,

And how a car became their house.

When Grandma asked them to come and stay,

They knew they had to find a way.

So they bought a car which seemed like fun,

But soon all the others had one too,

The roads were blocked, with no way through.

Then what became of our furry friends?

Story behind the Family Mouse

Eric Britton, Managing Director, 8, rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris

By Wolfgang Zuckermann , Roger Tweedt and Eric Britton

Illustrations by Roger Tweedt

The Lutterworth Press

The Lutterworth Press

Cambridge CB1 2NT

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:

First published by The Lutterworth Press, 1992

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

Printed in Hong Kong

Family Mouse and Friends:

Work, work, work, that's all he sees

She's the one who runs the show

What he loves is speed and noise

This little tomgirl's really tough

When he does not eat or cry

Big Zig the Pig:

He'll do anything to get the deal

Eric the Crow:

Knock down the old to put up the new?

"By train, of course," replied Mamma.

"Well," said Alvin, "then we'll just have to buy a car."

"Wowee!" screamed the children.

Alvin couldn't wait to get home and show it to his family.

There were no roads where he lived!

That made him scratch his head.

But Gussie and Alvin made it two FOR the road.

Beaver Construction Inc got the building job.

Only Eric the Crow was there to protest. All alone.

"This is terrific," they thought as they buzzed along.

But just at that moment, he saw something coming toward him.

This time all the animals came.

Big Zig the Pig was the guest speaker.

Oh dear! There was nothing left for them to do.

If only she knew what had happened!

Oh well, we guess you can't stop progress …

But what became of Family Mouse?

And Large called out: "Come here and see,

And there they lived in joy and laughter

Here's what we've learned from this affair

Eric Britton, Managing Director, 8, rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris

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