If You Give a Mouse an iPhone

August 15, 2014
In this tech-savvy parody of the contemporary classic If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, a hyperactive pet mouse named Applesauce goes off the deep end (literally) while mesmerized with his boy's iPhone. Like many a harried caregiver, the boy-who's finalizing preparations for a special outing to the "wild animal amusement park" with Applesauce-gives the persistently pesky mouse his iPhone as a diversion. Big mistake! Applesauce's glassy-eyed absorption with the device results in utter mayhem. Oblivious to the roller coaster, tempting junk food and exotic animals at the amusement park, the tap-tap-tapping mouse inadvertently frees the animals from their cages and walks off a cliff. Hitching a ride with some conveniently passing porpoises, he winds up on a "distant island." The boy arrives to rescue Applesauce, and the pair camp overnight. With no outlets or charger for the dead phone, Applesauce undergoes brief but dramatic withdrawal symptoms, which end with a marshmallow roast. "Ann Droyd"-aka David Milgrim-adopts the original text's conditional, "if / then" formula but doesn't attempt its exquisitely circular structure. Cartoony illustrations employ flat blues, grays and greens contoured in black, with word bubbles for dialogue. As Applesauce and his boy stargaze, the mouse asks, "By the way, how'd we get here?" Mildly amusing, but something of a one-trick pony. (Picture book. 4-7)

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January 1, 2015

Gr 1-2-The second "plugged-in parody" imitates the look and pattern of Laura Numeroff's popular cumulative mouse tale with the substitution of an iPhone for a cookie, as chatty Applesauce receives time from a young friend on a mobile smart device and subsequently gives it his sole attention. Single dimension, cartooned images with bold colors feature the mouse-"He won't hear a word you say," "won't have the slightest idea what's happening"-as he walks along, oblivious to surroundings or life-threatening dangers. Falling from a roller coaster, freeing all creatures at a wild animal amusement park, falling from a cliff into the ocean, or riding a dolphin to a remote island, Applesauce remains absorbed with the phone and tap-tapping away, ignoring his friend until the battery...runs...out. Speech bubbles continue a mostly one-sided conversation between the mouse and his remarkably calm friend. References to Minecraft, screen time, outlets, and chargers might take the vocabulary above its intended audience, but the dangers of Applesauce's tech-obsession are visually clear. Worth a discussion for any age, this offering is a suitable general purchase for all libraries.-Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano ISD, TX

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