• Age: 7 to 10
• Grade: 2 to 5

NOW IN PAPERBACK. Fans of the I, Freddy series and Charlotte's Web will be won over by this charming, delightfully told and illustrated story of a petshop misfit -- a hairless guinea pig with a penchant for Shakespeare.
Millhouse is a faint-hearted, hairless guinea pig. A great lover of all things theatrical, most especially the work of William Shakespeare, Milly longs for the limelight and someone to love. However, after the death of his beloved owner, the great actor Sir Roderick Lord Kingswagger, Millhouse is abandoned to a neglected and dusty pet shop filled with other rodents -- some rude, some odd, some cute and some downright frightening. Finding himself a reviled outcast and a target of the nasty Pepper Brown ferret, Millhouse sets about trying to find a way back to the theater and a happy home, and in doing so experiences more drama than he could ever have imagined.

Natale Ghent is an award-winning journalist and the author of No Small Thing, also published in the US and the UK, and The Book Of Living And Dying, a novel for young adult readers. No Small Thing has been critically acclaimed in Canada and internationally. Nominated for four Canadian children’s choice awards, including the CLA Book of the Year for Children award and the Silver Birch award (Honour Book), No Small Thing was also chosen as a Junior Library Guild selection in the US and a Borders Original Voice. Born in Brookfield, Illinois, Natale Ghent moved to Canada as a small child. She lives with her family in Toronto.

Natale Ghent's profile page

PRAISE FOR Millhouse:
"[E]xciting and entertaining . . ." --School Library Journal

"In the tradition of Charlotte's Web and The Cricket in Times Square, Natale Ghent's Millhouse stars an eclectic cast of creatures with hopes and dreams just like our own . . . a jolly treat for young readers . . . The language is lyrical and lends itself to reading aloud." --Readerly

"By far the best aspect of Millhouse is the author's own illustrations, which in and of themselves justify the creation of a story to accompany them. Millhouse's dramatic expressions, the ferret's malicious sneers, the wild mouse Sargent's military nobility . . . In Millhouse, Ghent has created an almost-sufficient story in just the illustrations." --Resource Links

PRAISE FOR No Small Thing:
"This is one of the best horse stories to come along in recent years . . ." --School Library Journal

"[R]eaders will find much to like in this gentle, involving tale." --Booklist