Mouse Soup (An I Can Read Book) [Hardcover]

Arnold Lobel (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: K and up | Series: I Can Read Book 2

Weasel is ready for his dinner. And poor mouse is it. Just in time, he thinks up a clever and entertaining way to distract weasel from serving up mouse soup for supper.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'Ah!' said the weasel. 'I am going to make mouse soup.' 'Oh!' said the mouse. 'I am going to be mouse soup.'" But wait - "Mouse soup must be mixed with stories to make it taste really good," he announces from the pot. And so, looking so absurdly endearing that you know he must be spared, the mouse tells the gullible weasel four stories. In the first a mouse outsmarts some bees, just as our mouse will outsmart his captor in the end; the other tales are, in turn, a simple fable, a laughable instance of misunderstanding, and a fondly amusing correlative of good will. Small but satisfying, and all informed with Lobel's own gentle resonance. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Arnold Lobel (1933-1987) was the award-winning author and illustrator of many beloved children's books, including the classic I Can Read books about Frog and Toad, and the Caldecott Medal winning Fables.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (March 16, 1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060239670
• ISBN-13: 978-0060239671
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,139,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Arnold Lobel (1933-1987) was the award-winning author and illustrator of many beloved children's books, including the classic I Can Read books about Frog and Toad, and the Caldecott Medal winning Fables.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Delight, April 9, 2002

By 

Judith E. Pavluvcik (Dreaming of the beach in Hawaii, but living in the reality of the desert in Arizona!!) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mouse Soup (An I Can Read Book) (Hardcover)

Mouse Soup is another wonderful childrens story by Arnold Lobel. For any 1st to 3rd grader learning to read, this book will allow the child to feel confident and very successful!

Four stories are presented by the mouse, who was captured by the weasel for his mouse soup. The mouse tells the weasel that his soup will not taste good unless he puts stories into the soup. One plain old mouse will not a soup make! The stories are: Bees and the Mud, Two Large Stones, The Crickets, and The Thorn Bush. After the mouse has finished his delightful stories, the weasel cannot comprehend how he will get the stories into the soup! Mouse instructs him to find a nest of bees, two large stones, some crickets, and a thorn bush. Not being very smart, weasel dashes out of the house to find the items, which allows mouse to escape to the warmth and comfort of his home, to eat a great meal and to finish reading his book!

The stories told by mouse are entertaining, lively and a hoot! They will keep the little reader guessing and wanting to know what is going to happen! The illustrations are entertaining and really help to contribute to the charm of the story!

A true delight! I love Arnold Lobels books for children!!

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love these stories, too!, August 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mouse Soup (Paperback)

My son (5) is language impaired. At tonight's rereading, he was telling ME the story, & what he thought should happen next! This is more spontaneous conversation than I have ever gotten out of him. So, here I am looking for more mouse stories. Our favorite ingredient in Mouse Soup is "Bees and the Mud." There's such a charming lyricism about Mouse Soup, that makes this one of the few children's books that I REALLY enjoy reading, really!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kid Tested and Approved - a review of "Mouse Soup", September 26, 2007

By 

Pam Tee "Busy Mom" - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Mouse Soup (Paperback)

I have to bow to a superior opinion in rating this book. After reading it to my 5 y.o. son, I had come to the conclusion that the subset of stories were pretty lame and uninteresting. I mean one of them is about two rocks that get lied to by a bird (or so the rocks think). And another is about a rose bush growing out of a comfy chair.

But my 5 y.o. informs me that I don't know what I am talking about. This book is great, he told me. And he convinced me that this was true by doing something his active little self seldom does: he went and got the book off his shelf and dragged his father over to the couch so that dad could listen to him read the stories. [Could have knocked me over with bookmark.]

The AR Reading level for this book is 2.4 which means that the Accelerated Reading committee, and it's software, suggests this book for Second Graders in their fourth month of school.

[The AR designation is a general "guide" that rates books on a relative scale of difficulty. Children can certainly read at levels above or below their group range, so that this number should only be used as a aid to help choose books that are appropriate and not frustrating.]

Four Stars. This book has a mouse cum Scheherazade premise: A weasel captures a poor little mouse and the mouse plots to get out of being eaten by telling stories. The stories the mouse tells didn't appeal to me, but my five y.o. son sure liked them. The AR reading level indicates the book is suitable for Second Graders.