Common Sense Media Review
By Carrie Kingsley
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Mouse gets a cookie and lots of fun in sweet, silly story.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 4+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE starts with a simple cookie, then one thing leas to another as the mouse embarks on a whirlwind of more complicated activities around the house, exhausting itself and the child with cleaning and crafting and endless ideas. The mouse cleans up its messes and wants to help while also wanting to play, gets tired and needs a nap, and after lots of adventures, the sweet story wraps around to a cookie again at the end.
Is It Any Good?
Fans of Laura Joffee Numeroff will be familiar with the formula and pacing of the story, and the mouse's activities and happy-go-lucky adventures continue to delight readers. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is also fun for those reading aloud, offering lots of places for a raised eyebrow or a giggle at the mouse's antics. There are lessons in being patient and in following the desire to create, and in taking responsibility for those activities. The ending, which fans of other Numeroff books will know is coming, still brings a smile and a chance to say the refrain aloud together.
Felicia Bond's engaging illustrations perfectly capture the playful, joyful spirit of this story and the other books in the If You Give... series.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what kind of responsibility the mouse takes for its activities in If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. What do you usually do after you make messes like these?
Do you think the child should let the mouse do everything it wants? Why or why not?
What other funny stories with animals have you read? What's fun about seeing an animal do things a human kid would do?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Felicia Bond
- Genre : Picture Book
- Topics : Adventures , Animals , Friendship
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : HarperCollins Children's Books
- Publication date : January 11, 1985
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 4 - 8
- Number of pages : 40
- Available on : Paperback, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback
- Last updated : September 29, 2025
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