Anyone who’s enjoyed the company of a mouse in the house knows that by the time you see one, there are more waiting to be discovered. Figuratively, that’s also true in Rebecca J. Becker’s house, nay, mansion of imagination.
Apparently, the mice started creeping in after a childhood camping trip when Becker curled up inside the foot of her sleeping bag and her mother laughingly called her a field mouse.
“Later,” Becker wrote, “this somehow morphed into my being President of the Field Mice of America. My mother was a physician, but on her official CV, under Other Talents, she claimed the title ‘Mother of the President of Field Mice of America’.”
And that’s a very big field of mice, because those little critters have proliferated their way via the internet across continents and oceans and into books and music videos.
“I used to draw a little hoodied mouse as a stand-in for me, and the mouse would have all the adventures I was having, but it also got to meet famous people and celebrate silly holidays,” Becker said. “My journals are mostly filled with these sketches, and that’s what I’ve been posting.”
Today Becker’s Facebook page is a mousetrap for characters inspired by almost anything that captures her fancy: “People, animals, stories, poems, dance, books, doctor’s appointments, eating pizza, birthdays, rain, new mattress warmers, the opera… a daily hoodie-mouse celebration of someone or something from my journal,” Becker said.
And that’s what Joni Mah, author of Lily Danced, saw, got inspired by, and reached out to Becker about.
Lily’s Dance
“I live near San Diego and taught high school Creative Writing and Literature classes for 25 years,” Joni Mah said. “I wrote poems and stories while modeling writing for my students, and wanted to get at least one story illustrated and printed for my family, but who would draw it?
“I had ‘met’ Rebecca in a Facebook photography group back during Covid. From the start, I appreciated Rebecca’s photos and asked to ‘friend’ her because I saw the beautiful art in her posts. Over time, I noticed she was drawing more and more mice and the wheels began turning… did I dare ask?”
Meanwhile, the photo group had become inactive, but Becker continued to post a daily morning walk photo and then began to post sketches featuring a little mouse in a hoodie. Finally, Mah gathered the courage to propose a possible collaboration.
“My story wasn’t originally about a mouse,” Mah said. “It was about a little ballerina, me, who falls down during her first recital and decides to never dance again, and how she rediscovers her joy in dancing.
“Most of the story is true, but I added details, and Lily in the book is a far more skilled dancer than I ever was. Then Rebecca was drawing all these adorable mice… and what animal is more dainty, more balletic, more charming than a little mouse?
“So, I sent my manuscript to her with a letter asking if she had any interest in illustrating a picture book; and a friendship/partnership was born! Lily would certainly never have seen the light of day without Rebecca’s guidance and support.”
Although she had sold some mouse portraits and card sets to raise funds for a vet bill, Becker didn’t set out to turn the mice into a business, but something with Mah clicked.
“Joni sent me (via snail mail, which I loved!) her story, Lily Danced, asking if I thought perhaps my mice would like to be involved,” Becker said. “But you know mice. Headstrong, willful, and determined to roam. Also, apparently, they make good adoptive housemates. As it turns out, we both loved the collaboration and may do more stories about Lily in the future.”
The beautifully illustrated picture/color book, Lily Danced, is available through Amazon in hardback and paperback.
Scroll down Amazon’s Lily Danced page, to the very bottom after the product details listing, to find a delightful surprise: a Flip Book version of Lily Danced, sparkling with perfect mouse-ballet music as the pages turn.
This all came about because, while the mice on her Facebook page were busy standing in for the likes of Joan of Arc, Jose Greco and various authors and occasions on her daily posts, Becker was also busy seeking a way to set their adventures to music.
Alice’s Adventures
Becker has produced piles of art from various periods in different styles, media and subject matter, and recently came up with a way to make the past present again in a new format.
“I was creating slideshows of some of my work for YouTube and looking for the perfect music,” Becker said. “I was going nuts! I wanted real human-composed music, fun music, lots of different flavors for different slideshows… and then I discovered Geoff Harvey and Purple Planet Music.”
Harvey describes himself as “a composer specializing in cute fantasy music; sort of Fairy-core mixed with Disney and cartoons,” and reports “being nominally English and currently living in the beautiful town of Fethiye, Southern Turkey.”
As of this week, there are 560,000 YouTube channels using Harvey’s music.
“The background to this lies in my accidental prominence,” Harvey said. “In 2007, I started creating music, mostly for fun. As I allowed people to use my music for free, I spawned a monster!”
Becker added, “I used one of his pieces and sent some money. He wrote to thank me, so I showed him what I was doing. He’s given me great advice about marketing and navigating the ways of YouTube. I made more slideshows, used more of his music, and when I told him I was about to start working on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, he wrote music just for that project; and on and on since then.”
When the mice moved into Becker’s mansion of unfettered imagination decades ago, they had to share the space with elves, dancers, urban angels, amazing animals, mythical creatures, and sundry rodent-adjacent characters. Among them were the denizens of the Alice in Wonderland saga Becker had been commissioned to illustrate 40 years ago, only to discover the publisher had folded, leaving her unpaid and her characters in search of an audience.
“I was left with, truly, years of work,” Becker said. “Ah, well. So just a year or so ago, I thought I’d turn these illustrations into grayscale coloring books, which is what I did. Geoff wrote the music for several of the flip-through slideshows.”
“Rebecca’s beautiful creations are the most perfect visuals that accompany my music,” Harvey said. “Her Lilly, Alice and mouse friends are precisely the characters I see in my music. I prefer to correspond with very few users, so Rebecca is one of a handful of creative people I actively follow and try and assist online. I rely on a handful of kind people such as Rebecca for motivation and encouragement. The numbers are meaningless unless real people are supportive.”
Sample 1,024 tracks of Harvey’s music at purple-planet.com if you have a project that needs a soundtrack.
Meanwhile, enjoy some fun artist collaborations at these links: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (on Amazon) a.co/d/g0lXVJe and youtube.com/watch?v=IeaNA_A5VK4. Find Lily Danced (on Amazon) a.co/d/3pDxegf. Search Rebecca J. Becker on YouTube to see and hear 9 Flip-Through books with Geoff Harvey’s music.
As for the future, “A couple of people have reached out recently about having me illustrate their stories, but the Crescent College History Project consumes most of my time and attention,” Becker said.