Stuart Little is a 1945 children's novel by E. B. White. It concerns the story of a mouse-like boy born to human parents in New York City. The early chapters concern his everyday life in the City and encounter with a friend who saves his life, Margalo the bird.
When Margalo flies away, Stuart leaves the city in a quest to find her. He acquires a gasoline-powered model car and travels the country. He finds employment as a substitute teacher from time to time. The most notable event includes finding a love interest in his own size, Harriet Ames. They go to a single date before he leaves to continue his quest. The novel has no real resolution.
Stuart Little was loosely adapted to a namesake film in 1999, which combined live-action and computer animation, with Michael J. Fox voicing the title character. It was a box office hit, and received two sequels. An animated series was created in 2003, but only lasted a single season, 13 episodes.
Tropes in the book include:
- Animal Athlete Loophole: Guess there Ain't No Rule that says a mouse can't sail in a model boat race.
- Cats Are Mean:
- Snowbell doesn't try to eat Stuart, but he is needlessly antagonistic to him, apparently because resisting his instincts to eat Stuart make him grouchy. He also, at one point, gives in to his instincts and attempts to eat Margalo before Stuart stops him.
- Snowbell's lady friend is allowed by Snowbell to sneak into the house and eat Margalo under the reasoning that it'd be ok for her to eat the bird because she isn't part of the family. As a result, Margalo leaves the house before this plan can take place, leading Stuart to look for her.
- Funny Animal: A reasonable place to put Stuart on the Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism.
- Hope Spot: Stuart buys a miniature canoe, planning for a nice outing with Harriet Ames at the river. Unfortunately, before the date starts, some boys have found the canoe and left it messed up with a string tied to one end, covered in mud; the pillow and backrest are gone, and one of the paddles is bent out of shape. Stuart is so upset about the canoe trip being ruined, he sleeps under the ruined canoe even when Harriet tries to cheer him up.
- Invisibility Cloak: Stuart's car has an invisibility button.
- Inter Species Romance:
- Played With, Stuart Little, whom looks like a mouse but was born from a human, dates Harries Ames, a miniature human.
- Stuart Little blows Margalo a kiss at one point and is visibly distressed it is suggested Margalo has a boyfriend.
- Implied Love Interest:
- There are indications that Stuart has a crush on Margalo, but it is never stated outright.
- Snowbell and the unnamed Angora cat are implied to be a couple without it being stated.
- Karma Houdini: The stray angora cat makes plans to eat Margalo, whom understandably flees once she learns of this threat to her life and thus leading to Stuart going out to find her. The angora suffers no comeuppance outside of Margalo escaping.
- Lilliputians: Stuart's date Harriet Ames is a miniature human.
- Loophole Abuse: Snowbell knows him eating Margalo is off-limits, but figures allowing his friend, the unnamed angora cat, to Margalo is ok because she isn't part of the family.
- Magic Realism: Mrs. Little gives birth to a mouse instead of a human; everyone just shrugs and accepts it. Future acquaintances of Stuart aren't at all surprised to see a talking mouse either.
- No Ending: The book ends with very little resolution; Stuart simply affirms his determination to find his friend, roll proverbial credits. Apparently E.B. White was concerned about his health, and decided to end the book at the best place he could find rather than keep going with it and risk leaving it unfinished at an even less satisfying point. However, he recovered and lived another 40 years, yet he never went back to finish the book.
- The Parody Before Christmas: The Littles rewrite 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to say, "Not a creature was stirring, not even a louse" instead of "mouse", since Stuart is an anthropomorphic mouse and they feel the poem's depiction of mice is "belittling".
- Random Species Offspring: Stuart Little is born a mouse, even though both his parents and his brother are humans.
- Silence of Sadness: When the Littles are sad because Stuart is missing, it's stated by the narration that nobody talks during lunch.
- Talking Animal: All the animals in the story can talk with humans and eachother.
- Too Unhappy to Be Hungry: When Stuart goes missing, the rest of the Littles don't enjoy their stew.
- What Happened to the Mouse? No further mention is made of Mr. and Mrs. Little, George, or Snowbell and his girlfriend once Stuart leaves home.
