Review by Booklist Review
After a human family finishes their Thanksgiving dinner, Mouse is overjoyed to discover the leftovers, starting with a teensy-tiny pea: One will be a feast for me. Mouse gathers more scavenged treats, from cranberries to a whole pie slice, until he builds a huge stack. When Cat, who is also hungry, startles Mouse, the precariously piled food goes flying, and Mouse scurries back to safety, without his festive treats. Happily, though, the original pea is still reachable, and with renewed appreciation, Mouse enjoys a modest holiday meal. Cox's prose is descriptive and lively, though very young children may need help with some vocabulary ( toothsome ) and phrases: Mouse's eyes were bigger than his stomach. The colorful, animated, mixed-media illustrations show the world from a rodent's perspective, with familiar foods and household items shown in towering proportions. Particularly dramatic is a vertical spread that depicts small Mouse beneath his tall, turkey-topped food pile as Cat's face looms at the table edge. This entertaining story may be a good starting point for discussions about appreciation and excess.--Rosenfeld, Shelle Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-Mouse looks out of his hidey-hole, and what does he see? A single, glowing pea left on the Thanksgiving table. What a feast for a mouse! However, once he goes to retrieve the tasty treasure, he spies other alluring leftovers that tempt him. His eyes are bigger than his stomach. Soon he is balancing a stack of food and wobbling his way home again. Then, the family cat intervenes. Will Mouse escape with his life and a Thanksgiving feast for himself? The ending is holiday appropriate, with Mouse sitting down to a meal for which he can be truly grateful. Based on the delightful picture book by Judy Cox (Holiday House, 2008), which is becoming a Thanksgiving standard, the story is read clearly and with expression by Kirby Heyborne. Jeffrey Ebbeler's clever illustrations are carefully scanned, with specific details highlighted for the viewers' enjoyment and some minor animation and sound effects added. This is a buoyant treat that will never grow old.-Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary, Federal Way, WA (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Preschool, Primary) Overindulging at Thanksgiving is as much a part of the celebration as cornucopia centerpieces. For Mouse, though, feasting could end with more serious consequences than an overextended stomach. When Mouse creeps out from his "hidey-hole," he spies the remnants of a Thanksgiving feast. He starts by picking up one "teensy-tiny, toothsome, green pea," but soon he spies more goodies, and his pile grows. Bright acrylic paintings from multiple perspectives show Mouse, his large glasses not quite resting on his ears, juggling an increasingly unwieldy mountain of food. The repeated refrain ("One is a feast for me") gets funnier as he takes "just one" cranberry, olive, and carrot stick, then a plate holding one scoop of mashed potatoes, etc. Mouse loses most of his feast when Cat wakes up, but nonetheless remembers to "give thanks" for what he manages to salvage -- that single green pea. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Mouse creeps out on Thanksgiving Day as the human family enjoys its post-prandial nap. He spots a pea on the uncleared table, and then a cranberry, then an olive, then a carrot stick...Thinking to himself, "One is a feast for me," he soon amasses one of everything, until a tower of food teeters on its base of one pea. Ebbeler's full-bleed, double-page spreads make the most of the humor made available by situation and scale--spot the bespectacled mouse dwarfed by his pile as he marches past Pilgrim salt-and-pepper shakers just his size. Greed goeth before a fall, however, in a slapstick climax children will relish. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
