If You Take a Mouse to School (If You Give...) (Hardcover)

by Laura Numeroff (Author), Felicia Bond (Illustrator) "If you take a mouse to school, he'll ask you for your lunchbox..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Ah, mice. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile. Laura Numeroff and illustrator Felicia Bond, creators of the bestselling picture books If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Take a Mouse to the Movies, are back with If You Take a Mouse to School. As you might imagine, there are great risks in bringing your mouse to school. For starters, he'll ask you for your lunchbox. And then a sandwich. And a snack for later. Still not satisfied, he'll want to participate in everything from math to soccer. Children and adults alike will revel in the hilarious, very cute illustrations of the mouse in the classroom: hanging from the top corner of the blackboard to spell (aptly enough) "precocious" and "adrenaline," writing "'Goodnight Mouse' by Mouse," sitting inside the boy's open backpack playing with a yo-yo, etc. This book is more episodic in nature than the truly cause-and-effect formula of the previous books: "If you give a pig a pancake, she'll want some syrup to go with it." Nonetheless, kids who know and love this rollicking read-aloud series will laugh and play to see a mouse at school. (Ages 4 to 8) --Karin Snelson

From Publishers Weekly
In a rollicking romp, Numeroff and Bond send the energetic, exuberant star of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Take a Mouse to the Movies (and his boy sidekick) into the classroom. After pulling on his overalls, the diminutive character makes his first request ("He'll ask you for your lunchbox") and then demands a snack, notebook and pencils before climbing into the boy's backpack. Once at school, the mercurial mouse happily bounds from one activity to the next: he spells "a word or two" on the blackboard (Bond shows these as an impressive list headed by "onomatopoeia"), conducts a science experiment (purple matter erupts from his beaker), builds "a little mouse house" out of blocks (the edifice looks quite elaborate) and fashions furniture for it with clay. Realizing he needs something on his new bookshelf, the ambitious critter collects paper and pencils and creates his own book, which he then wants to take home, in "your" lunch box. As animated as the whiskered student it depicts, Bond's art lives up to expectation, featuring her customary crisp colors and kid-pleasing details. Its school setting, tried-and-true tone and popular protagonist mark this title as a winner. Ages 3-7.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (July 16, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060283289
• ISBN-13: 978-0060283285
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,653 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ok, but then what?, May 7, 2004

By	My Uncle Stu (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

OK, bottom line, my daughter loves this book. Loves the story and loves the pictures. So I have to give it an overall positive review because the primary purpose of a kid's book is to entertain the kids.

But I do have a little complaint, and I know how silly it will sound. This book is a follow-up to "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" and others in the series, such as another of my daughter's favorites, "If you Give A Moose A Muffin." What is clever about these stories is that they develop a circular sequence of events that ultimately lead back to the beginning for what could be another in an infinite series of rotations through the steps. This book does not end so neatly. The mouse must return to the school to retrieve his lunchbox, hence you are taking a mouse to school again, but it is at the end of the school day, not the beginning. If there were one more page it would say, "Umm, then you'd go home."

I know, again I'm being too nit-picky for a kid's book. But parents will feel more enthusiastic to read a kids book where the gimmick is successfully carried out, not one that seems forced, as if the writer had a deadline. Or a nap to take.

Still, thumbs and tails up. I gave it four stars figuring I'd give five to Felicia Bond, the illustrator, and three to the author, Laura Numeroff.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Loosing steam?, October 27, 2002

By	L. Blackmore (Norwich, VT United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My son loves the previous books in the series, and this one is not bad, either. The drawing of the mouse peeking out from behind the book in class is fabulous, as is the blackboard sequence where he shows off his spelling and math abilities.

But this title lacks some of the sparkle and mischevious charm that made the moose and the pig and the original mouse such lovable characters. It comes across as a bit uninspired, there's no crazy, yet logical, sequence to follow, just a series of interesting spreads of our mouse showing off his amazing skills. Skateboarding... whee. Basketball... whee. So what?

The giggle that builds to a crescendo as you near the end of the other books is missing here, leaving you... wanting. So, it's back to muffins and pancakes and cookies for us.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mouse is Back....., July 20, 2002

By	Roz Levine (Virginia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

"If you take a mouse to school he'll ask you for your lunchbox..." So begins Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond's latest manic chain of events adventure, and little ones, familiar with this marvelous series, will know just what kind of trouble is coming next. Mouse is never quite satisfied. Once he's got your lunchbox, he'll want a sandwich, and a snack for later, a notebook and pencils, and he'll want to share your backpack. Once you get to school, he'll do a little math, some spelling, and a rather messy science experiment, that sends him to the bathroom in need of washing up. Then he notices the building blocks, and so on, and so forth, through the end of the school day and after, until the story comes full circle, and his boy companion ends up taking him back to school..... Ms Numeroff's lively text is entertaining and engaging, but it's Ms Bond's busy, bright and exuberant illustrations that make this picture book sparkle. Each colorful, action packed page is filled with special, humorous details, and youngsters will revel in all the fun as they watch this endearing little rodent wreak havoc and create chaos in the classroom. Though the story doesn't flow as smoothly as in the previous books of this series (If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, If You Give A Moose A Muffin, If You Take A Mouse To The Movies), and isn't quite as intricate or clever, If You Take A Mouse To School is still a comical, silly romp kids 3-7 will want to read again and again.