NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING...

Myko Bocek Studios, Etsy

...NOT EVEN A MOUSE!  Seems like mice turn up everywhere in children's literature!  Who could ever forget C.S. Lewis' "Reepicheep", E.B. White's "Stuart Little", or Leo Leonni's "Alexander"?   Here are some fun winter and Christmas tales that feature these furry little creatures...

WINTER STORY by Jill Barklem.  (ages 4-8). The author spent five years researching before she started her stories of the mice of Brambly Hedge.  This winter story is highlighted by a Snow Ball, as the mice set to work to make an "Ice Hall" for the festivites.


THE MITTEN by Alvin Tresselt, illustrated by Yaroslova. (ages 4-8). Based on a Ukrainian folktale...deep in the forest on the coldest day of winter a little boy drops his mitten. The mitten stretches and stretches -- and stretches -- to provide shelter for many woodland creatures, the first of whom is a little mouse.


CHRISTMAS MICE by Richard Scarry.  (ages toddler-preschool).  This Little Golden Treasures book may be hard to find, but it was a favorite of my kids.  Two little mice awaken on Christmas morning and find presents left by Santa.  Even something for them...


MR. WILLOWBY'S CHRISTMAS TREE by Robert Barry (ages 4-8).  Your children will love this rhyming story about all the places Mr. Willowby's trimmed treetop is shared (unbeknown to him), with the very tip top ending up in a mouse family's hole.


To read my past post about more MOUSE tales, click HERE.

FUN MOUSE STORIES (THAT AREN'T ABOUT MICKEY!)

Living in Orange County, it's hard not to immediately think of Disney when questioned about popular mouse stories. But I was able to reach back into the deep recesses of my Mommy Memory and come up with some other "famouse" mice that were our favorites from the literary world...

MOUSE TALES by Arnold Lobel. Great transition into chapter books. (ages 4-8) Seven mouse brothers can't sleep and ask their "Papa" to tell them a story. He tells them seven stories, one for each boy! Another by Lobel: MOUSE SOUP - a mouse is caught by a weasel in order to become the main ingredient for the weasel's "mouse soup". But the mouse tells the weasel that the soup won't taste good unless he stirs some stories into it. You'll read four stories the mouse relates while he devises a plan to stay out of the soup pot. (Think Scheherazade with ears and a long tail!)
BRODERICK by Edward Ormondroyd, with illustrations by John Larrecq. (ages 4-8) I racked my brain and finally remembered this book! It's about a mouse who takes his tongue-depressor-surfboard out into the world. Out of print - you'll have to look at the library for this one, and it's worth it! Cute pen and ink drawings.
STUART LITTLE by E.B. White/Illustrated by Garth Williams. (ages 8 & up). Follow Stuart (a little, talking mouse born to a human family in New York city) on a journey of adventures as he proves himself to be a noble mouse - a humorous, melancholy, touching fantasy tale.
THE MOUSE AND THE MOTORCYCLE (series) by Beverly Cleary. (published in 1965, ages 8 & up). Ralph Mouse has led an ordinary life in the knothole of a hotel room, until a family comes with their son, Keith, who has a toy motorcycle. Kids love what happens when curiosity overcomes caution and Ralph decides he must go for a ride!
BEN AND ME: AN ASTONISHING LIFE OF BENJMIN FRANKLIN BY HIS GOOD MOUSE AMOS, by Robert Lawson (ages 8 & up). The "biography" of Ben Franklin told with wit and wisdom by his mouse, Amos (a less-than-humble rodent).
REDWALL (series) by Brian Jacques. (see my entry "Books That Transport Us...", posted on 6/3/10).

PICTURE BOOKS (ages 4-8):SHY CHARLES By Rosemary Wells
MOUSE PAINT by Ellen Stoll Walsh
MOUSE MESS by Linnea Asplind Riley
NORMAN THE DOORMAN by Don Freeman
A MOUSE TOLD HIS MOTHER by Bethany Roberts
SEVEN BLIND MICE by Ed Young
THE GRUFFALO by Julia Donaldson
AMOS AND BORIS by William Steig
ANATOLE by Eve Titus
ALEXANDER AND THE WIND-UP MOUSE By Leo Lionni
WHOSE MOUSE ARE YOU? by Robert Kraus