Submitted by Amanda from Lexington Park!
Mouse Was Mad by Linda Urban is great book to help kids learn how to deal with their anger in an appropriate way, and how to express it. Mouse was mad, and he didn’t know how to express it. He tried to be “hoppin’ mad,” “stompin’ mad,” “screaming mad,” and even “rolling mad,” like his friends, but each time he just ends up getting angrier because he cannot be mad like Rabbit, Bear, Bobcat, or even Hedgehog. He gets so mad, he stands very, very still, and discovers his own way to be mad. No one else can be “still mad” like Mouse and this makes Mouse happy.
Mice
Sort It Out
Submitted by Tess from Lexington Park!
Sort It Out! by Barbara Mariconda, with illustrations by Sherry Rogers, is a children’s picture book that works on many levels. On one level, it’s a cute story about a Packy the Pack-rat (an awesome name for a character in general), who’s mother insists he put all his things away. On another level, it’s a mystery (his things keep going missing! Wonder if his sneaky kid sister has anything to do with it). On another level it suggests several different ways kids can organize things (by color, shape, material, etc.). And on yet another level it’s an interactive rhyming book: “The turtle, the clover, the skinny string bean, he placed in a pile made of things that are… [say it with me] green!” All in all a fun book for multiple reasons.
The Gruffalo
Submitted by Jill from Leonardtown!
The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. When Mouse goes walking in the Deep Dark Woods, he runs into Fox, Owl, and Snake… and they all want to eat him! Clever Mouse scares them off by warning them about the terrible Grufflalo, a monster who has “terrible tusks, and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws.” When they hear that a Gruffalo’s favorite foods are “roasted fox,” “owl ice cream,” and “scrambled snake,” the predators scamper away. Mouse laughs at their foolishness: “Silly old snake! Doesn’t he know? There’s no such thing as a Gruffalo!”…Or is there? How will Mouse save himself when a Gruffalo really does appear, complete with purple spikes, a warty nose , and an appetite for mouse on bread?
Cat & Mouse
Cat & Mouse by Ian Schoenherr was one of my favorite books last year, but it kicked up a bit of controversy among my colleagues in the children’s librarian community (and what a community it is! I’m so proud to be a member). Schoenherr adapts a few well-known nursery rhymes, “I Love My Little Kitty,” “Hickory Dickory Dock,” and “Eeny Meeny Miney Mo,” into a Tom-and-Jerry-esque romp between a saucer-eyed cat and an acrobatic mouse, natural enemies who turn out to be best friends in the end. The illustrations are strikingly detailed. I think they’re just gorgeous! But you may want to have a discussion with your child about the proper way to treat animals, before and after you read it (some might say the mouse is a little malicious).
Mouse Paint
Mouse Paint is one of several wonderful books concerning mice by Ellen Stoll Walsh. In this installment Walsh’s mice are hiding from the cat, as usual, when they discover three jars of paint–one red, one yellow, and one blue. They, of course, jump right in (why not? there’s a jar for each of them), and start dribbling colors onto a white piece of paper. When they step in each other’s paint puddles (and do a little mouse dance) they discover that mixing colors together creates new colors!This is a fun book to help teach your child about colors, maybe with a craft to reinforce the lesson?
A Visitor for Bear
A Visitor for Bear is an endearing tale by Bonny Becker with soothing illustrations by Kady MacDonald Denton. Bear seems quite sure he does not like visitors. He even has a sign on his door saying “NO VISITORS ALLOWED” which is why he’s taken aback by a persistent mouse who continues to show up uninvited. “Vamoose!” he tells the mouse and “Be gone!” but he keeps appearing again and again. Finally Bear gives in. The mouse can stay for one cup of tea, but then he must leave. But when the mouse compliments Bear’s home, appreciates his headstands, laughs at his jokes, Bear discovers he does enjoy company after all tears his sign down.