Nutcracker ballerina defends mice

Annabel Averett, 7, lives in Nebraska. This month she's performing for the first time in a production of "The Nutcracker" at Creighton University in Omaha. She plays a mouse, and when she realized the other characters were afraid of the mice, or hated them, she began a backstage effort advocating for mice rights. She called it the Mouse Freedom Front.

                                                                                                              Photo by Erin Walcek Averett
She created a 12-point manifesto to help stamp out intolerance of mice, including "If people join the club we give them free cheese" and "We find out how to destroy mouse traps." Annabel's Dad helped her make a pamphlet and she passed out 80 copies backstage during the opening performance. Other mice in the cast vowed to post pamphlets in six different Omaha schools. A parent volunteer let Annabel give a speech. Annabel believes "mouse freedom is a really big thing that we should fight for, and people know mice are nice." It's a sweet message to emerge from a Christmas ballet.