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: If you share a book with your child........
Review: .....you will have hours of fun ahead of you.
My favorite time of the day is when I take my kids to bed and read for them. We read different kinds of books, but each child always gets some special favorites. If you give a Mouse a Cookie is among 5 year old Marta's all time favorites. We can read the book over and over again, and the story is just as cute as when we first discovered it.
The story starts with a little boy eating cookies outside his house, he sees a mouse and wants to share his cookies with it. The mouse eats the cookie, then asks for a glass of milk, of course the boy gives him some milk, and the story goes on and on. The little mouse asking for more and more, the boy having a wonderful time following his new companion. From a napkin, to scissors to trim his hair, a broom to sweep up, and so on. And the wonderful, funny last page when the mouse asks for a glass of milk, but of course, if you give him a glass of milk the chances are that he will want a cookie to go with it, and we are right back to the start of the book. The most perfect story for a child who always wants repetitions, over and over again.
The book is beautifully written by Laure Joffe Numeroff, and the cute drawings to illustrate the story are made by Felicia Bond.
Lucky parents and children with books like this to share.

Britt Arnhild Lindland

Rating:
Summary: If You Give A Mouse A Cookie
Review: If You Give A Mouse A Cookie is a funny and amusing little story. It is abtou how one little energetic mouse has so much fun in one day that he can not make up his mind what to do next. It tells how one littl thing can lead to a hol mess of fun things to do. It also has cause and effect throughout this enitre story. A litle mouse makes a boy get him a glass of milk and read to him and also make him a bed. But he never seemd to finish any thing he starts. This has been my favorite childrens book of all time. It also has cute pictures of what he is up to and great facil expresions. I would definetly recamend this.

Rating:
Summary: My child's favorite book!
Review: Laura Joffe Numeroff is an excellent children's author! My daughter and I have read this book so many times, she can recite word for word throughout the story. The cassette tape that comes along with the story book is excellent, because after the story is read, there is a fill-in-the-blanks game. Your child fills in the blank. (example - "If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of _____.) The answer is milk. And this continues throughout the story. I highly recommend this book. No child's library should be without it!

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: She wants it read again and again!
Review: Simply put, this is a wonderful book. Our 19 month old daughter has enjoyed this book since she received it on her first birthday. The story is simple and easy to follow and the pictures are big and bright and wonderfully drawn. There aren't alot of words on every page so if you have a younger child that likes to turn the pages frequently, this makes it easy to keep the story going. Although the story is whimsical and involved enough for an older child to enjoy as well. We have read this book so many times that my daughter has memorized some of the words on every page and pretends to "read" it herself. Personally, I feel this is the best of the "If you give a ....." book series (we have them all). I think the only improvement this book could use is if it came in a board book version as the paper pages in our hardback version are quickly becoming worn from all the frequent reading and toting around! A true classic that I feel any parent with a young child can't go wrong with.

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