Author: Don and Audrey Wood
Artist: Don Wood
Genre: Animals / Food / Trickery / Humor
Year Published: 1984
Year Read: 2016
Publisher: Child's Play International Ltd.
Source: Library
Content Rating: Ages 5+ (Some Mischievous Behavior)
Buy on: Amazon // Book Depository
Now, I have been reading Audrey and Don Wood’s works
for many years, especially many of their earlier works including “The Napping House,” “Heckedy Peg” and
“King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub.” So, imagine my delight when I finally got
around to one of their most highly praised books that I never had the chance to
read when I was little called “The
Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear” and I was
pleasantly surprised by the results!
The story starts off with a
little mouse going to get a big, ripe and juicy strawberry from the tree and
the narrator starts having a conversation with the mouse and then suddenly the
narrator states that a big hungry bear might be on the prowl and is looking to
steal the mouse’s strawberry! So, the
mouse tried to find ways to hide its strawberry away from the hungry bear,
while the narrator continues to warn the mouse about the hungry bear being on
its way to take the strawberry. Later on
however, the narrator then makes a suggestion that might help the mouse save
its strawberry from the bear…
What does the narrator suggest?
Read this book to find out!
I must say that I was quite
impressed with Don Wood and Audrey
Wood’s collaboration on this book! I
loved the fact that Don and Audrey Wood
allows you (the narrator) to interact with the mouse character in this book and
warn him about the hungry bear that might come and eat its strawberry. Don
and Audrey Wood did a fantastic job at making the narrative creative and
suspenseful at the same time as we also worry about how the mouse will save its
strawberry from the big hungry bear while in a way encouraging the mouse to
find clever ways to hide the strawberry.
Don Wood’s artwork is simply
amazing and beautiful to look at as the mouse looks incredibly cute with its
black beady eyes and its extremely long tail and I loved seeing the images where
the mouse tries to find different ways to protect its strawberry, such as
digging it in the ground and putting a disguise on the strawberry. I also loved the way that Don Wood drew the lush environment that
the mouse lives in and you can see various weeds surrounding the mouse which
gives the environment an exotic flair.
***~SPOILER ALERT!!!~***
The reason why I took off half a
star from the rating was because I felt that the narrator purposely scaring the
mouse in the story just to get half of the strawberry felt a bit too
mean-spirited. This is really apparent when we see images of the mouse looking legitimately
terrified about the prospect of meeting the hungry bear (which never made an
appearance in the actual story). Parents
should let their children know that tricking other people to get what they want
from other people is not the way to go in this kind of situation.
***~SPOILER ENDED!!!~***
Overall, “The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear” is
a truly cute story about trickery and suspense that children who are fans of Don and Audrey Wood’s works will get a
kick out of! I would recommend this book
to children ages five and up since the narrator purposely scaring the mouse
would send mixed messages to small children.
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