The adventures of three mice, written in the form of chapters, are products of stories told to the author's daughter when she was a child, (and the author was half asleep, trying to get her to bed before retiring for the night.) Collins' "half awake" mind caused her imagination to soar. She told Cheryl (her daughter) things that were often very amusing to her, because they were so unreal. After Cheryl grew up, married and had children of her own, her boys learned to love hearing her version of these stories. The older boy asked his grandmother to write down some of those stories, and that was the reason for them to be printed and published. The illustrations were drawn by the boys themselves, and their cousin, Jasmine, another grandchild of the author.