Birthday Mice!

October 1, 2002
When a mouse turns two, friends and family throw a cowboy theme party in Birthday Mice!, the fifth title in the Holiday Mice series by Bethany Roberts, illus. by Doug Cushman.

December 1, 2002
PreS-At his second birthday party, a cowboy-costumed mouse creates havoc while galloping around on his wooden horse. A gigantic balloon pops, his horse breaks, and his birthday cake is smashed. Friends save the day by substituting "cowboy vittles" (flapjacks) for the cake, and a kind squirrel offers to be the birthday mouse's "horse." This is a difficult book to read aloud; the rhyming text doesn't scan, and sometimes the rhymed word doesn't appear until pages later. Cushman's animals are personable, but twice he places the protagonist in four panels across a spread, which is bound to confuse preschoolers, who will see four separate mice. And children will wonder how, in one set of panels, a tiny pair of cowboy boots is made to fit on the mouse's enormous feet. Not a first purchase.-Eileen Sheridan, Bridgeport Public Library, CT

Copyright 2002 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.