In the blink of an eye, half the year is over and we’re at the peak of the summer season. If you’ll indulge me for a moment, I’d like to get a bit maudlin: time passes in such a strange way when you’re a parent. I don’t even mean in the “the days are long, but the years are short” sort of way. I mean that every day you watch your child grow and evolve and then, out of nowhere—BAM!—you’re transported back to the infant days when their expressions twist in just the right way. In that moment, you’re half here and half there—in the shadowy mists of yesterday—and it feels absolutely unfathomable that this child is that child and that one day you’ll be looking back on this child. Parenting twists up your heart and the knots just get tighter and tighter as time goes on.
Thank you for indulging me—I hope the summer you are having is at the exact right tempo for you and, if it gets too much, you’ll step back and just have a nice cool slice of watermelon. (Seriously, is there anything a cold slice of watermelon can’t fix on a hot summer day?)
Without further ado, let’s talk about this classic that is particularly dear to the Millennials…
Written by Laura Numeroff and Illustrated by Felicia Bond
Recommended Ages: 3+ years old
Buy now*
What happens when you innocently give a mouse a cookie? If you’ve ever wondered about this, look no further! In this hilarious accounting of how more equals MORE, we see a little boy kindly offer an adorably overall-ed little mouse a cookie after which chaos ensues. The mouse insists on a glass of milk to wash down the aforementioned cookie (because, of course), and before you know it, the boy is scouring the house to meet the ever-growing demands of this tiny little mouse.
It’s a simple tale with just the right amount of mischief and whimsy to tease out a smile or laugh. There’s something utterly satisfying about the boy’s compulsion to fulfill the mouse’s every creative request. Pretty soon, the mouse is going to be another member of the family.
This was a book I grew up loving, perhaps, at the time, because the cookie looked spectacularly delicious; to this day, if I see the cover of this book, I start craving chocolate chip cookies. Bond’s illustrations are just about the sweetest you’ll find. Pencil artwork is laid out neatly (at first!) on swaths of white background in sharp color. What appears neat slowly devolves as the story continues, underpinning the chaos and clutter in an endearing way.
Know a gluttonous little mouse? Send this post to them (or their adults)!
The story of our insatiable mouse and generous little boy takes place in the Eighties which, for many of us, may not have been that long ago. It was a time of major cultural shifts—huge blockbuster movies and the rise of MTV. Most notable was the rise in consumerism—with more wealth came the rise of all sorts of brands and led to a sense of “have it all”-ism. This context is particularly on the nose for what this tale is essentially about.
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I loved this story as a child and still have a deep appreciation for it. For a child, this is a story about keeping the fun going as long as possible. The requests get increasingly outlandish and irresistibly funny. This is what I remembered and loved when I look back on the book (and the lovely illustrations!).
As the mouse’s requests get wilder, so does the weariness of the boy who’s trying to keep up. As a kid, I might have related to the mouse. But as a parent? Woof. The boy and I have the same fatigue in our eyes. With wiser, older eyes, I see a little mouse who wants to stay and a little boy who just wants to make him happy. Yet more reason to love this book.
As you’re reading: What do you think the mouse will want next?
Can you remember what the mouse asked for right before this?
What’s your favorite thing that the mouse asks for?
Did you grow up with this book and did you like it?
What’s something that stands out to you about reading the books you loved as a kid to the kids in your life?
If you could ask someone to do something for you at this very moment, like the mouse asks the boy, what would it be?
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