Little Mice
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Leapfrog Press
Published:1st Oct '26
Should be back in stock very soon

FOR FANS OF THE HUNGER GAMES, THE GIVER, AND UGLIES
“I could not put it down...Little Mice creates a universe every bit as rich and haunting as Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale or Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, while also reminiscent of Lois Lowry’s The Giver or George Orwell’s 1984.”
"If you are a fan of dystopian sci-fi and liked The Handmaid’s Tale, Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, or The Hunger Games, this is for you.”
Each citizen must contribute to society. If a citizen fails to find a suitable objective, one will be assigned.
In the Canopy Complex, no one grows old. Age is for the little mice, the donors far below who bleed so the privileged can thrive. Seventeen-year-old Astra Fairwood has never questioned the system. Why would she? As the daughter of the Chief Enforcer, her future is secure – a life of parties and privilege. Until everything is taken from her.
Cast out of the Canopy and condemned to the Donor Zone, Astra is forced into the very world she was raised to fear. She meets a girl who challenges everything she thought she wanted and soon learns the Canopy taught her to fear the wrong thing. The real threat was never the Zone.
With tensions rising and the people she loves most in danger, Astra must choose between the life she was promised and the truth she can no longer ignore. Does a world built on the blood of others deserve to survive?
"Little Mice is a dark and compelling page-turner and the first book of what promises to be a daring and dazzling trilogy...an unputdownable reading feast of big ideas, gripping intrigue, heart-stopping menace and full-on action adventures.” –Pam Norfolk, Lancashire Post
“I could not put it down...Little Mice creates a universe every bit as rich and haunting as Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale or Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, while also reminiscent of Lois Lowry’s The Giver or George Orwell’s 1984.” –Faith Shearin, award-winning author of Lost River, 1918
"Fantastic dystopian concepts...Full of complex characters...The detailed world is a triumph and the story itself is compelling. A real page turner. " –Becca Barnes, award-winning author and producer of Power Rangers
"It was great! Kept me on my toes to the very end and I was as uncertain as Astra as to who she could trust. Not sure whether to be excited that it is the first of a trilogy or horrified that I'm going to have to wait to see what happens next!" –Caroline Fielding, CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group
Reader Reviews:
“Now that is dystopian done right.”
“Twisty, fast-paced, and delightfully (worryingly!) dystopian.”
“If you are a fan of dystopian sci-fi and liked The Handmaid’s Tale, Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, or The Hunger Games, this is for you.”
“A brilliant debut novel!”
“Little Mice is a gripping, dystopian story with a brilliantly imagined world and a premise that feels disturbingly plausible.”
“What a ride, an action-forward YA dystopian novel! It's always a journey seeing a character have the rug pulled from under them and everything they believed in crumble before their eyes!”
“A very impressive debut novel. A wholly original story with an unsettlingly plausible medical-technological central concept.”
“An absolute page-turner!”
- Winner of Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize - Young Adult 2025
- Commended for Farnham Literary Festival (Farnham First 5000) 2024
- Long-listed for Goldfinch Novel Award 2025
- Long-listed for Stockholm Writers Festival (First Five Pages) 2024
- Long-listed for Goldfinch Novel Award 2024
ISBN: 9781971225050
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
302 pages