SATURDAY MORNING FOR KIDS

Mouse Soup, by Arnold Lobel, was published in 1977 and is a children’s version of Scherazade or A Thousand and One Nights.  In Lobel’s version, an adorable (I do not use the term loosely) little mouse is caught by a mean weasel who intends to make mouse soup. How this mouse saves himself is familiar to those who have read the earlier tales; he tells adventure stories. The delightfully illustrated Table of Contents lists the stories as “Bees and the Mud,” “Two Large Stones,” “The Crickets,” and “The Thorn Bush.”

The mouse’s recipe for a perfect Mouse Soup involves the weasel gathering items from each story, and the reader supposes the mouse is doomed.  Read this book and see the way the mouse avoids becoming soup. It is best as a read-aloud first, then a book you and your children/grandchildren can read to each other. It is over fifty pages, but there is a stopping place, which often involves a cliff-hanger, at the end of each story/chapter.  Much of each page is taken up by the delightful illustrations.

With assistance, first or second graders should be able to read this book.

Advertisement

Author: Rae Longest

This year (2019) finds me with 50 plus years of teaching "under my belt." I have taught all levels from pre-K "(library lady" or "book lady"--volunteer) to juniors, seniors, and graduate students enrolled in my Advanced Writing class at the university where I have just completed 30 years. My first paying teaching job was junior high, and I spent 13 years with ages 12-13, the "difficult years." I had some of the "funnest" experiences with this age group. When I was no longer the "young, fun teacher," I taught in an elementary school setting before sixth graders went on to junior high, teaching language arts blocs, an assignment that was a "dream-fit" for me. After completing graduate school in my 40s, I went on to community college, then university teaching. Just as teaching is "in my blood," so is a passion for reading, writing, libraries, and everything bookish. This blog will be open to anyone who loves books, promotes literacy and wants to "come out and play."

2 thoughts on “SATURDAY MORNING FOR KIDS”

  1. I remember this book from my library Rae, but I do not think I ever read it. Time to check and see if the library still has it. Great choice to share.

    Like

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: