PreSchool-Grade 1-This rhyming story enumerates a string of occurrences that befalls a family when a mouse lodges under the birthday hat that Grandmother is wearing. The cat spies its prey and pounces as the mouse dashes across the floor, causing the cake platter to totter. In a bizarre turn of events, the cake comes to life, sprouts arms, and runs off. The story ends with the possibility of additional disaster: the sound of a bee in Grandmother's purse. Not as imaginative as Willard's other work or as humorous as Laura Numeroff's If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (HarperCollins, 1985) or Audrey Wood's The Napping House (Harcourt, 1984), the book is redeemed by Mattheson's charming oil paintings. The large illustrations in soft pastel colors set against a bright yellow background make this title ideal for group sharing.
Laurie Edwards, West Shore School District, Camp Hill, PA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
PreS-Gr. 1. Using the familiar format of "This is the house that Jack built," Willard works her particular wizardry, beginning with a mouse who manages to get under Grandmother's purple, rose-bedizened cha peau. This interests the cat to no end, but the children and other relatives are preparing to bring out the birthday cake for Grandmother. Then, "This is the mouse that tickled my shoe / as I carried the cake that jiggled and bounced / when the hungry cat gave a yowl and pounced." The cake takes itself right out the door, the mouse escapes, the cake is gone, and the distraught family says, "Things couldn't be worse!" Oh yes, they could, for "I hear a bee / in Grandmother's purse." Mattheson's oils start out in demure oval frames, then move to full pages and double-page spreads as the action heats up. The colors are rich and warm, suitable for the Victorian dress and decor; her figures are made of geometric shapes--circles, triangles, angles, points. A delicious read-aloud full of giggles. GraceAnne DeCandido
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