What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

I'm looking for a book that I read as a child, which I'd like to replace in order to read it with my own children. I remember only some details about this book, although the more I think about it, the more are coming back to me!

The book was very interactive. I remember you would find flaps across the page - you might lift up a piece of cheese and find a mouse hiding behind it, for example. There were tons and tons of mice! They were all living in a house, I think, and they were hidden behind where the humans couldn't see.

The plot revolved around them wanting to put on a show or a performance of some kind. I think there was one sad mouse and all the others got together and "dressed up" (in household items for the most part) in order to create a show to cheer them up. I recall there were some mischievous mice swinging around on things and delicate female mice who got all dressed up and danced around. I remember a lot of red, so I think it may have been Christmas themed - or maybe just a coincidence?

For the illustration style, I haven't been able to pin down who the exact artist was, but when I saw the cover of 'Angelina Ballerina's Invitation to the Ballet' by Helen Craig it really struck a chord. I've looked through all of Helen Craig's published books, however, and I can't seem to see anything that matches, although some of her books aren't listed with covers in the resources that I found.

I've spent hours on hours looking for this so hoping someone can put me out of my misery!!

Mouse Ballet by Michelle Cartlidge came up searching in Worldcat and the cover is similar to the book that you mentioned. On Goodreads it says that it was published in 2001 but in Worldcat it says 1999. Not sure if that's too recent to be your book! Mostly mentioning it because of the similar cover. There's also Mouse Christmas by the same author.

Other books that came up in the same search:
Wee Mouse Christmas by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
What is Valentine's Day? by Harriet Ziefert

I've also come across Mouse Ballet but sadly that's not it! I've checked all of Michelle's books but no dice. It would definitely have been published before 1999.

Rhiannon, I added a few details to the header/topic title. You can update it by clicking the small "edit" link after the header. This only works on the full Desktop website - not the Mobile website or app. (On the Mobile website, click the "Desktop version" link at the bottom of the page.)

Similar illustrator mentioned - Invitation to the Ballet by Katharine Holabird (illustrator: Helen Craig)

Can you describe the illustrations - e.g., simple or detailed, realistic or cartoon-like, painted watercolors or bold graphics, color or black-and-white? Do they remind you of a similar illustrator or picture book author?

Kris, I think you might have been a bit rushed last night - you edited an incorrect detail into my title and tagged the wrong illustrator!

Never mind though, because: I was inspired by the idea of searching pinterest last night and thought I might have a chance of finding the illustrations there because they were so bright and vibrant. I spent a good couple of hours again looking through literally every single result for some search terms... and I saw an illustration of a mouse at the circus. That triggered something, as I had felt there was a bit of a theatre feel to the illustrations but wasn't sure, so I searched mouse circus next. Pretty far down that page, I finally found it!

A Very Visable Mouse

There are no images online whatsoever apart from the cover it seems, and it doesn't seem to be in print anymore, which explains all the difficulty (even the GoodReads listing here has the title misspelt). Anyway, I managed to order a second-hand copy and will hopefully have it in my hands again by the end of the week!