If You Give a Moose a Muffin [Hardcover]

Laura Numeroff (Author), Felicia Bond (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: If You Give...

If a big hungry moose comes to visit, you might give him a muffin to make him feel at home. If you give him a muffin, he'll want some jam to go with it. When he's eaten all your muffins, he'll want to go to the store to get some more muffin mix.

In this hilarious sequel to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, the young host is again run ragged by a surprise guest. Young readers will delight in the comic complications that follow when a little boy entertains a gregarious moose.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"If you give a moose a muffin, he'll want some jam to go with it." So begins the most logical silliness to be found anywhere--at least since Laura Joffe Numeroff and illustrator Felicia Bond's If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Readers will follow a young boy and his voracious visitor through a series of antlered antics: jam reveries and puppet shows and big messes. It all makes perfect sense, really, once you stop to think about it. What moose wouldn't want to borrow a sweater when it's cold outside? And why shouldn't the loose button on the sweater remind him of his grandmother? Bond's cleverly detailed, witty illustrations perfectly complement Numeroff's deadpan style. Through just a few deft words and brush strokes, the reader gets a real sense of the unique personalities of the two characters. Children will relate easily to the full-circle reasoning of the story, while picking up the concept of cause and effect. The moral of the story? Keep plenty of muffin mix and blackberry jam in your cupboard. You never know who may drop by. (Great read aloud, ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly

In this sequel to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie , the complexities that can follow a simple act of kindness are played out with the same rampant silliness as in the previous book. The dilemma here is of a different dimension--a moose, after all, will almost always be a bigger problem than a mouse--but the collaborators maintain the same jolly mood. And what happens when you give a moose a muffin? He asks for jam, of course, and when he's finished eating all the muffins, he'll want you to make more. That entails a trip to the store. Of course the moose would like to go, but he may need to borrow a sweater; he might notice a button is loose, in which case he'll require a needle and thread. Numeroff and Bond have another clear winner--the drawings of the goofy moose sashaying around the house as his small host struggles to keep up with his demands make for great fun. Ages 3-7.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (September 30, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060244054
• ISBN-13: 978-0060244057
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Children's Books > Animals > Mammals
  • #15 in Books > Children's Books > Cooking with Kids
  • #15 in Books > Children's Books > Animals > Mice, Hamsters, Guinea Pigs & Squirrels

More About the Author

Laura Numeroff grew up in Brooklyn, with her mother, father and two older sisters. Her house was filled with books, art, music and folk dancing.

She attended Pratt Institute and graduated with a degree in communications and a contract for her first children's book, AMY FOR SHORT, published in 1975 by Macmillan.

A New York Times best-selling children's book author, Laura is best known for the series based on her book IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE. First printed in 1985, "Mouse" is in its 40th printing. The fourth book in the series, IF YOU TAKE A MOUSE TO THE MOVIES was on the New York Times Children's Best Seller list for five months- nine weeks at number one.

Publisher's Weekly listed IF YOU TAKE A MOUSE TO THE MOVIES as the number two book for children in 2000 (Harry Potter was number one) and at one point, Laura had three books on the New York Times Bestseller List in the same week.

In 2000, IF YOU GIVE A PIG A PANCAKE was featured on the Oprah show three times, and was recommended by Oprah's first kids' book club, as well as being noted as Oprah's favorite children's book of the year on her Christmas show. "PIG" was also on Publisher's Weekly Bestseller List for over a year. In addition, the series has sold over 4.5 million copies, been printed in fourteen languages, and won the prestigious Quill Award in the picture book category.

Some of Laura's other books currently in print are: WHAT MOMMIES DO BEST/WHAT DADDIES DO BEST, DOGS DON'T WEAR GLASSES, THE CHICKEN SISTERS, WHY A DISGUISE? The first two books in Laura's JELLYBEANS book series made the New York Times Best Seller List.

Hillary Clinton, President Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush have all read Laura's books to kids. First Lady Michelle Obama, her mother, her daughters, Malia and Sasha read Laura's book at the 2010 Easter Egg Roll on the White House Lawn. Laura was one of ten children's authors invited to a literacy day in Washington during the Bush administration in 2001. She has also visited over 100 elementary schools and has been a speaker at teacher conferences around the country.

Laura donates book sales to FIRST BOOK, a non-profit organization that provides brand new books to children who otherwise would not have access to them. She has also donated all royalties from THE HOPE TREE- KIDS TALK OUT ABOUT BREAST CANCER, to the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Laura has appeared on The Today show twice as well as Good Morning America. On her December 13th, 2000 appearance on The Today Show, Laura donated 500 Mouse mini-books with doll ornaments to the show's toy drive.

When not writing, Laura takes tennis lessons (she says she's not very good but loves it anyway), reads to children in hospitals and foster homes and calls herself a book and movie fanatic.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read to Your Child to Develop Bonding and Intellect!, August 22, 2000

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: If You Give a Moose a Muffin (Hardcover)

Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute.

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. If You Give a Moose a Muffin was one of her picks.

This humorous book has to be one of the most imaginative ever written and illustrated!

The premise starts with a child spotting a moose out the window in the back yard. The child beckons to the moose, gives the moose a muffin, opens the kitchen door, and lets the moose in. Holding the muffin in his teeth, the moose obviously seems to need some jam. The child opens the refrigerator and gets out the mother's homemade blackberry jam. The moose quickly starts eating the muffin, now that it has jam on it. Then another, and another . . . and another until they are all gone. He seems to want you to make some more.

One thing connects to another, and before the book ends the moose will get a sweater, make puppets, create the scenery, put on a puppet show, make a mess, clean up the mess, want some more jam, and still wants some more muffins.

The book works at several levels. First, the idea is simply to be a good hostess or host. That's something that all children need to learn. You should try to please your guest. Even if it is a moose!

Second, there is also an analogy to being a parent, helping a child. So your child can begin to see what it's like to be the caregiver.

Third, how do you accomplish things? Some you buy, some you make, and almost all have consequences. The book helps your child learn to connect the dots.

Fourth, the child and the moose make a terrible mess. No one gets excited, but they do take responsibility to clean up after themselves. Amen!

Fifth, one thing does lead to another. It is easy to get distracted. The circularity of the story helps your child remember what the purpose originally was, and not to get sidetracked.

Sixth, the book introduces ideas of activities you can do with your child. In fact, it's all right to put the book down and start doing those activities . . . or pick a time to do so.

All in all, you get a lot for your time and money.

The illustrations are wonderful in making the moose very human and humorous. The figures are vivid and clear, and are filled with warm, rich colors.

You can take the concept of the book and make up your own stories with your child. Then you could draw illustrations together and do the activities that you pick for the story. You could start with your child's favorite animal and food. If you give your dolphin a cookie, etc. In that way you can stimulate even more bonding and creativity. Have a ball!

Be sure to overcome your stalled thinking that only authors can come up with great stories that you'll both love. I'll bet your child and you can do a wonderful job!

Enjoy!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another book to read at bedtime., September 14, 2001

By 

Britt Arnhild Lindland (Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: If You Give a Moose a Muffin (Hardcover)

Bedtime is the favorite time for me and my five year old daughter. Some time ago we discovered If You Give a Mouse a Muffin, and both of us fell in love. It was with great pleasure we found out that Laura Joffe Numeroff and Felicia Bond has more books out in this series, and just like the first one, If You Give a Moose a Muffin has become an all time favorite for us.

The book starts with a little boy giving a muffin to the moose right outside his house. The moose gets the muffin, but comes into the house to get some jam to go with it.And of course the one muffin is not enough, the moose wants one more and one more.And as the story goes on the moose gets more and more fantastic ideases. The drawings that goes with the story are so funny, you just have to stop reading all the time to enjoy them.
And exactly like the first book this story makes an eterniy wheel - in the end the moose see some jam, and of course wants a muffin to go with the jam, and we are right back to the beginning. It is a genious way to write for children, and just as much fun for the grown up reader.

My daughter and I only have the first two books in the series yet, but have the others on top of our wish list.
Read the book, with or without a child, and I can promise you the best reading time :-)

My hope is that someone will translate these books into Norwegian, I would love to give all Norwegian chidren the pleasure of discovering them.

Britt Arnhild Lindland in Norway

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This was our first Numeroff book and we are hooked., August 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: If You Give a Moose a Muffin (Hardcover)

As a gift from a family member to our daughter we were introduced to Numeroff. Now we are hooked. We have "If you give a Pig a Pancake" and "If you give a Mouse a Cookie." The illustrations and the stories are wonderful.