Birthday Mice!

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Birthday Mice!
Birthday Mice! book cover.png
Author Bethany Roberts
Illustrator Doug Cushman
LanguageEnglish
SeriesHoliday Mice [1] [2]
GenreChildren's fiction
PublishedOctober 21, 2002 [2]
Publisher Clarion Books [2]
Publication placeUnited States
Pages32 [2]
ISBN 0-618-31367-2

Birthday Mice! is a 2002 children's book written by Bethany Roberts and illustrated by Doug Cushman. Part of the informally marketed Holiday Mice series, [1] it received mixed reviews.

Contents

Synopsis

When their son turns two, the holiday-celebrating mouse family of four [3] holds a birthday for him in a forest clearing, set to a cowboy theme. [2] [4]

Reception

Reviews for Birthday Mice!, the fifth title with Roberts and Cushman's characters, [5] were mixed. Kirkus Reviews said, "Occasional rhymes and a musical cadence to the text—with its oompah repetition of words—make this a lively performance piece". [2] Conversely, Eileen Sheridan wrote in the School Library Journal : "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. [Although] Cushman's animals are personable, [the birthday boy's appearance across] four panels [in two instances] is bound to confuse preschoolers, who will see four separate mice.... Not a first purchase." [6] In separate reviews, The Horn Book criticized the "forced rhyming text" [5] and "uneven" rhymes [7] which the "festive watercolors" helped to compensate. [5] [7]

References

  1. 1 2 Zaleski, Jeff (May 3, 2004). "Children's Notes: A Red-White-and-Blue Parade" . Publishers Weekly . Vol. 251, no. 18. pp. 194–195. ISSN   0000-0019. ProQuest   197095310 . Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Review: 'Birthday Mice!'". Kirkus Reviews . Vol. 70, no. 19. October 1, 2002. p. 1478. ISSN   1948-7428. ProQuest   917092885 . Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  3. ↑ Fowler, Bonnie (June 27, 2004). "Children's Books: Flag-waving tales will make for amusing holiday reading" . Winston-Salem Journal . p. A18. Archived from the original on July 5, 2023. Retrieved July 10, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Roback, Diane; Brown, Jennifer M.; Britton, Jason (October 7, 2002). "Children's Notes: Encore Performances: 'Birthday Mice!'". Publishers Weekly . Vol. 249, no. 40. p. 75. ISSN   0000-0019. EBSCOhost   7526093 . Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 CHD (Spring 2003). "Preschool: 'Birthday Mice!'" (PDF). The Horn Book . Vol. 14, no. 1. p. 18. ISSN   1044-405X. ProQuest   207564108 . Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  6. ↑ Sheridan, Eileen (December 2002). "Review: 'Birthday Mice!'" . School Library Journal . Vol. 48, no. 12. p. 107. ISSN   0362-8930. ProQuest   211735559 . Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  7. 1 2 KF (Fall 2015). "Early Readers: 'Birthday Mice!'" (PDF). The Horn Book . Vol. 26, no. 2. p. 61. ISSN   1044-405X. ProQuest   1725202984 . Retrieved July 10, 2023.
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