Bianca with Idina Menzel and Cara Mentzel on Loud Mouse

The Children's Book Review: Growing Readers Podcast

In this episode, I talk with sisters Cara Mentzel and Tony-award-winner Idina Menzel about their debut picture book Loud Mouse: How a Little Mouse Found Her Big Voice.

Cara Mentzel's debut memoir, Voice Lessons: A Sisters Story, about her relationship with her superstar sister, Idina Menzel (yes, they spell their last names differently), was a Good Reads Choice Award nominee in 2017. Cara lives in Boulder, Colorado, where she and her husband raised their Brady Bunch of boys against the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. She has a master's degree in elementary education with an emphasis on children's literacy, and though she currently spends most of her time writing, she enjoyed teaching elementary school for well over a decade and can occasionally be found back in the classroom talking about books she loves. Loud Mouse is her first picture book.
Idina Menzel is a powerhouse: actor, singer-songwriter, philanthropist, entrepreneur, and now a writer. She was Tony-nominated for her Broadway performances in Rent and If/Then, winning the prize for Wicked's green girl. People around the world know her as Elsa in Disney's Oscar-winning Frozen and Frozen 2. She has performed at the Oscars and the Super Bowl, and is the co-founder of A Broader Way Foundation, whose mission is leadership development to amplify young women's voices through the arts. Loud Mouse is Idina's latest endeavor to build on the message of empowerment and finding our voices. Idina's greatest gift is her son, Walker.

Order copies:

Loud Mouse on https://bookshop.org/a/2078/9781368078061 or Amazon: https://amzn.to/3xQrnDh.

You can check out the lyric video created using Jaclyn Sinquett’s gorgeous illustrations at Books.Disney.com/LoudMouse and download the song from your favorite platform today.

Transcription:

You can read the transcription on The Children's Book Review.

Resources:

Voice Lessons by Cara Mentzel and a foreword by Idina Menzel

A Broader Way Foundation

Discussion Topics:

• About Loud Mouse
• Idina Menzel's inspiration for Loud Mouse
• Cara Mentzel's drive for co-authoring Loud Mouse
• Finding one's voice and celebrating it
• Sisterhood—in the story and through collaboration
• The illustrations of Jaclyn Sinquett and finding humor in the little details
• The spectacular use of vocabulary—the juicy words
• And then the part when Idina Menzel reads (sings) for us.

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