21. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Title: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Author: Laura Joffe Numeroff
Illustrator: Felicia Bond
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers
Copyright Date: 1985
Number of Pages: 28
Reading Level: 7
Genre: Comedy

Summary
A boy shares his cookies with a mouse. The mouse then needs a glass of milk. To drink his milk he needs a straw and once he’s done he’ll need a napkin. The mouse will want to make sure he wiped his face well enough so he’ll need to look in a mirror and he’ll see he needs a haircut. Once he’s done trimming the floor will need to be swept and then he’ll just clean everything. The mouse will be tired from working so hard that he’ll need a nap, and will therefore need a bed. When he is read a story he decides that he wants to draw a picture. The picture is of his family and will only be complete when he signs his name. The picture must go on the fridge so the mouse will ask for some tape. When he sees the fridge he realizes how thirsty he is and will ask for a glass of milk and the best thing to go with milk is a cookie.

Recommendation
This is a good bedtime story and I would recommend it to a parent who wants a short read to put their kids to bed. It’s a book that can be read over and over again without being too tedious. Good for young children.

Problems/Conflict
Should kids really be sharing their food with mice? They have diseases.

My Reaction
This is just a fun imaginative book and its funny how so like a child the mouse is. If you give a kid something usually it reminds them of something else and suddenly a whole new idea comes to mind. They can just bounce from one idea to the next. I like that the book forms a circle, it’s a clever way to finish off at the end.