Fourth of July Mice!

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Fourth of July Mice!
Author Bethany Roberts
Illustrator Doug Cushman
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesHoliday Mice [1]
GenreChildren's fiction
PublishedMay 2004 [2]
Publisher Clarion Books [3]
Pages32 [2]
ISBN 0-618-31367-2

Fourth of July Mice! is a 2004 children's picture book written by Bethany Roberts and illustrated by Doug Cushman, part of the team's Holiday Mice series. The book, about a family of mice celebrating U.S. Independence Day, was published to positive reviews.

Contents

Synopsis

A family of mice spend Independence Day holding a parade, playing baseball, swimming in the pool, and enjoying fireworks among other activities. [3]

Background

The book is the seventh (and to date, the last) [4] instalment of Roberts and Cushman's Holiday Mice series, [1] [2] whose title characters previously appeared in Halloween Mice! (1995) and Thanksgiving Mice! (2001). [2]

Reception

Fourth of July Mice! received positive reviews. The School Library Journal called it a "slice-of-life story [that is] slight but pleasant", [3] and Publishers Weekly deemed it a "light, rhymed romp". [1] Writing for Booklist , Connie Fletcher said: "[Fourth of July Mice!] just about gushes red, white, and blue—from the colors of the clothing the family wears to the all-American activities that form the backbone of the book....A charming way to prepare for the holiday." [2] The mice's proceedings "[made for] great fun written in quick, rhyming text" (per Bonnie Fowler of the Winston-Salem Journal ), [5] while "very simple language helps kids understand the celebration" (according to Children's Bookwatch). [6]

School Library Journal, Booklist, and Winston-Salem praised Doug Cushman's illustrations, [2] [3] [5] along with The Horn Book (which was otherwise less enthusiastic). [7] "The energetic watercolors," The Horn Book's reviewer said, "capture the holiday spirit better than the lackluster rhyming text, which relies too heavily on repeated words and onomatopoeia." [7] Four years after its publication, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal wrote, "Featuring the Holiday Mice at their most adorable, this story about our nation's birthday will delight readers young and old." [8]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 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 . Retrieved July 4, 2023– via ProQuest.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Fletcher, Connie (May 2004). "Review: 'Fourth of July Mice!'" . Booklist . Vol. 100, no. 18. p. 1626. ISSN   0006-7385 . Retrieved July 4, 2023– via ProQuest.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Owen, Maryanne H. (June 2004). "Review: 'Fourth of July Mice!'" . School Library Journal . Vol. 50, no. 6. p. 117. ISSN   0362-8930 . Retrieved July 4, 2023– via ProQuest.
  4. ↑ Kumar, Lisa, ed. (2010). "Roberts, Bethany 1949–". Something About the Author . Vol. 202. Gale Research. p. 153. ISBN   978-1-4144-3499-5 . Retrieved July 11, 2023– via Internet Archive.
  5. 1 2 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 5, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Clarion Books" . Children's Bookwatch. Midwest Book Review. 14 (8): 7. August 2004. OCLC   13100762. Archived from the original on July 15, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023– via Gale General OneFile.
  7. 1 2 "PDS" (January–June 2004). "Preschool: 'Fourth of July Mice!'" (PDF). The Horn Book . Vol. 15, no. 2. p. 325. ISSN   1044-405X . Retrieved July 4, 2023– via ProQuest.
  8. ↑ "Just 4 Kids: Book picks: Children". Spartanburg Herald-Journal . Spartanburg, South Carolina. July 2, 2008. p. D3. Archived from the original on July 4, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023– via Google News Archive at Google Books.
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