If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Rating:
Summary: Cookie cookie cookie starts with C
Review: "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" really has been the "It" book for some time. Parents love this story, and their children really get into it as well. On and off, I'd heard various things about it, but nothing that so sparked my interest that I ran to my nearest library to peruse its pages. Now, however, I've grown old and wise in the ways of kiddie lit. and I found myself wanting to know what all the fuss was about. Was this book really as overwhelmingly fantastic as everyone said? Was I doomed to fall desperately in love with it like 98% of the population of known Western Civilization? The answer is a resounding yes yes yes. I had counted on finding some mild enjoyment with a fun story. Was I got was extreme enjoyment from a sly, understated, exceedingly clever story.

As we open, a small mouse treks down a hill on its own as a boy contentedly reads his comic book, munching on a bag of delicious chocolate chip cookies. After the boy offers the mouse a cookie (not knowing what such an action has wrought) the mouse asks for milk. Milk leads to a napkin. A napkin leads to a mirror (to check for a milk mustache, of course). A mirror leads to a hasty haircut. A haircut leads to sweeping up. And so on. All the while the boy gamely follows his rodent friend over, around, and through the different parts of the house, ever supplying the guest with whatsoever it may require. By the end, the house is in shambles, the boy exhausted on the floor (parents will relish this picture above all) and the mouse has just started in on a second cookie.

Some books expertly place kids in the position of their parents. In the picture book, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus", kids are allowed to finally tell someone (the someone in that instance being a naughty pigeon) no. In this book, the kids are now the patient parents, forever cleaning up and amusing the endlessly enthusiastic and hepped-up mousey. The pictures are deceptively simple, drawn with pure pen and ink. Just the same, millions of tiny details are apparent in every shot. The boy's refrigerator displays (oddly) a newspaper clipping of a car crash. The mouse's drawing of his family displays some pretty original dresses on his mother and sister. And I'll leave up to your imagination the variety of odds n' ends surrounding the depleted boy at the end of the story. Suffice to say, ladies and gentlemen, this book has it all. And it's a delightful story to boot.

Rating:
Summary: cookie causes mayhem
Review: Numeroff's main character, a tiny mouse, becomes a BIG chore for a young boy. After the mouse asks the boy for a cookie, the boy quickly learns that it will not stop there. The mouse becomes more demanding as the story goes on, wanting something new every flip of a page. The book carries the reader through fun activities and scenarios that the boy sweetly accommodates the mouse through. The boy's entire day becomes centered around a tiny mouse with endless demands. Will the demands of the tiny mouse ever end? Or will it be the story that never ends?
I think Numeroff's book gives a humorous view on a very imaginative situation. Children are sure to love this book with its funny plot and illustrations. Not only does the boy in the story find himself tending to a bossy mouse, he also faces the chance that it might all start over again in the end.
The story gives an excellent introduction to cause and effect for young readers. Phrases such as if you, when you, when he fill the pages describing what happens after something else happens.
The illustrator, Felicia Bond used colored pencils to capture the excitement of the boy's day. The vivid colors keep the reader stimulated through each page. The pictures also do an amazing job of helping to develop the plot. Without the illustrations, the story would not be as effective in portraying the craziness of the boy's day because of the mouse. The pictures definitely make the story more humorous for any reader.
I have loved this book for years. Although, I never realized it was really the illustrations that were making the book so wonderful. Without the pictures, the story would not be exciting, attention-keeping or climactic. However, combining the illustrations with the story line creates a funny and exciting story that any young reader could enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: A loveable mouse and some nonsensical logic makes for fun!
Review: So here's the thing about mice: they're needy. The power-packed little rodent might ask you for a cookie, but once you give him one: look out! Because first he'll need milk, then a straw to drink the milk, and of course, a napkin... and oh, the places that little mouse will take you from there. Exhausting a little boy with these wonderful nonsensical leaps of "if...then" is just one part of the joy of this book.

Adults will love the fun of it - this is not a book you're going to tire of quickly. Kids will love the antics of the mouse just as much, and the wonderful illustrations are a blast (when the Mouse realizes he's thirsty, there's a fabulous image of him holding his throat, tongue out, in melodramatic mousey style).

This is one of the best childrens books I've come across in a long time, and I've picked up the rest of the Numeroff series since. If you can, nab this one as the "mini book and stuffed animal" gift set - having a little mouse of your own (with cookie) is definitely worth the extra cost.

'Nathan