Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse

Rating:
Summary: Children will remember this one!
Review: Alexander the mouse finds a friend to end his loneliness-- Willy the wind up mouse. When Willy is about to be thrown away, Alexander makes a selfless decision, and with the help of a magic lizard saves his friend.

This is a wonderful little story filled with magic and friendship. It can be read in such a way (with plenty of drama and mystery surrounding the lizard) so as to captivate a young reader. Its happy ending makes it a good bedtime book.

Rating:
Summary: A must have for all classrooms
Review: I believe that Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionni is an outstanding work of children's literature. It is a Caldecott Honor Book, which I thoroughly enjoyed on several levels. When it comes to characterization, this story would definitely be appropriate for young children. Each character is easy to identify. Alexander is dark gray and a little "rough around the edges". Although when it comes to size, shape, and color he and Willy (the wind-up mouse) are similar, it is not difficult to tell them apart. Besides the obvious traits Willy possesses, such as having wheels for feet and a crank sticking out of his back, he is also a little smaller than Alexander. Willy's body is smoother as well whereas Alexander's is fairly rugged.
The whole book is told from the perspective of two tiny mice. The reader gets to see how huge and scary everyday objects, like a spoon or a broom, can be from the point of view of a mouse. The stuffed animals are enormous. The red boots appear to be mansions for the mice to play in. I especially like the illustration of Willy and Alexander standing under the kitchen table. All we see of the table is one leg and the bottom of the table cloth. There is also one of Annie's dolls laying in the background that looks absolutely gigantic in comparison to the two friends.
Lionni does a dazzling job placing "life sized" objects in the background of each scene throughout the story to make sure the reader realistically understands how minuscule the two mice are in contrast to the environment in which they live. He also uses lots of fun wild wall paper in creative ways as his artisitic media to create his illustrations.
On the page when Alexander meets Willy there are oodles of brilliant colors and exhilarating patterns. I felt like these captured the feeling of excitement Alexander was feeling to have found not only a new friend, but another mouse like himself. Most often the color red is used to represent love and passion. On the page that talks about how much Alexander and Willy grew to love one another, they are pictured playing in a pair of gigantic red boots. I believe this color was chosen purposefully to portray that passionate loving emotion. When Alexander was in his hide out all alone thinking about how envious he was of Willy, he was very sad and lonely. Most of that page is black accompanied by other dark colors such as different shades of brown. There are also some cool colors like blues and greens. These colors emote sadness and loneliness.
Lionni's text holds the reader's attention. The story is intresting without being too complex or boring. All of the observations I have written about clarify why Lionni is worthy of an award as prestigious as the Caldecott Honor. He is observably an excellent author and illustrator of children's books and undoubtedly meets all the requirements associated with producing high quility children's literature.


Rating:
Summary: One of Lionni's most moving stories
Review: I love Leo Lionni's books. His gentle fables and parables deal with some of the most important lessons children need to learn - about friendship, generosity, and being true to yourself. They're deeply moral books, but they never preach or oversimplify.

This is one of Lionni's deepest and most moving books. In it, Alexander, a despised house mouse meets another mouse - a child's beloved wind-up toy. The contrast between Alexander's unhappy life and the life of the pampered toy mouse makes him feel so sorry for himself that he misses important clues that life is not so great for the wind-up mouse after all. When he learns about a way to earn a magic wish, he realizes he can use it to turn himself into a toy. But before he's able to accomplish his goal, he finds the wind-up in the garbage. He uses his wish to turn the wind-up into a real mouse.

Alexander learns that the most important thing is to be true to himself, not turn himself into what others want. But in doing so, he also reaches out to help someone else.

You may read this book dozens, even hundreds, of times before a child picks up the nuances of that message. But the key is that most children will ask to hear the story that many times, and most adults will love it so much they won't mind repeating it.

Rating:
Summary: Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse
Review: I think that this is a great book for a young child to read, it is also a book that some older adults would probably like. I think that this is one of my favorite children's books. It has colorful, detailed pictures. It is a good story. It will keep children interested and wondering what will happen next. Alexander has a great friendly personality that kids will relate to. Alexander is lonley and wants a friend. Whenever he leaves his home to go find some crumbs to eat, the family that lives in the house catches him and chases him back in his hole in the wall. One day he runs into a wind-up mouse named Willy. He befriends this mouse and he decides that he wants to be a wind-up mouse too. He meets a lizard in the backyard and tells him his wish, the lizard tells Alexander to bring him a purple pebble. So Alexander goes on search for this pebble. He searches everywhere and finally finds one. But then he changes his mind and decides that he wants Willy to become a real mouse. So he wishes then goes back to his house. When he gets in his hole in the wall, he sees another mouse and asks who he is. He discovers that it is Willy, so they then live happily ever after and stay friends. I really liked this book out of any others I have read. Thats why I give it four stars and reccomend it to anyone who is looking for a book to read to their child, or to read themselves.

Rating:
Summary: My Book Review on Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse
Review: I think that this is a great book for a young child to read, it is also a book that some older adults would probably like. I think that this is one of my favorite children's books. It has colorful, detailed pictures. It is a good story. It will keep children interested and wondering what will happen next. Alexander has a great friendly personality that kids will relate to. Alexander is lonley and wants a friend. Whenever he leaves his home to go find some crumbs to eat, the family that lives in the house catches him and chases him back in his hole in the wall. One day he runs into a wind-up mouse named Willy. He befriends this mouse and he decides that he wants to be a wind-up mouse too. He meets a lizard in the backyard and tells him his wish, the lizard tells Alexander to bring him a purple pebble. So Alexander goes on search for this pebble. He searches everywhere and finally finds one. But then he changes his mind and decides that he wants Willy to become a real mouse. So he wishes then goes back to his house. When he gets in his hole in the wall, he sees another mouse and asks who he is. He discovers that it is Willy, so they then live happily ever after and stay friends. I really liked this book out of any others I have read. Thats why I give it four stars and reccomend it to anyone who is looking for a book to read to their child, or to read themselves.

Rating:
Summary: Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse
Review: My mother started reading this book to my brother and I when we were about 2 maybe younger. It was one of our favorite books. By the time we were about 3 we could recite the book as the pages were turned. We still have the book and I now read it to my children. I still love the book and hope my children enjoy it as much as my brother and I did.

Rating:
Summary: Review for Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse
Review: The Book Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse was a great book to read. I thought that it was easy to follow along and to understand it. The pictures and drawings in the book were very cool too. I hope that if you decide to read this book, you will feel the same way about it that I do. I think that you will like reading and find it a very neat book to enjoy.
In the story, Alexander wants to be like the wind-up mouse because the wind up mouse gets more attention than he does. He meets the wind-up mouse one day and starts to talk to him. He finds out how he can become a wind-up mouse too. If you read this book, you will be able to find out what Alexander does. Will be ever become a wind-up mouse or not??
Brandon M.

Rating:
Summary: Review for Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse
Review: The Book Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse was a great book to read. I thought that it was easy to follow along and to understand it. The pictures and drawings in the book were very cool too. I hope that if you decide to read this book, you will feel the same way about it that I do. I think that you will like reading and find it a very neat book to enjoy.
In the story, Alexander wants to be like the wind-up mouse because the wind up mouse gets more attention than he does. He meets the wind-up mouse one day and starts to talk to him. He finds out how he can become a wind-up mouse too. If you read this book, you will be able to find out what Alexander does. Will be ever become a wind-up mouse or not??
Brandon M.

Rating:
Summary: A great story!
Review: We've had to read this book many, many times to our little one. The adventures of Alexander and his new friend, Willie the windup mouse is just very sweet. It teaches children about friendship, being a true friend, and also, being there to help that friend even though you may be giving up something that you want in doing so. It's very sweet how the story ends with Willie becoming a real mouse because of Alexander's unselfishness (or was it really?). Alexander has a new playmate because he was willing to give up being a windup mouse so his friend wound not go into the trash. Just a very cute story and, to be honest, I couldn't resist saying, "here Lizard Lizard" when coming to the part of the lizard (remember the Taco Bell commercials with the dog saying that regarding Godzilla?). It made for a great laugh by all and now, my little one always asks me to say that when we come to that part of the story. Great imagination builder.