If You Take a Mouse to the Movies

If you Take a Mouse to the Movies

By: Laura Numeroff

Illustrated: by Felicia Bond

Genre: Fiction

Grade level: Pre-K-1^st grade

 

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you took a mouse to the movies? You would think that all he would want to do is watch the movie. What if he went off on a tangent and asked you to do whatever came to his mind? Would you let him do it?

If You Take a Mouse to the Movies is about a boy, who decides to take his pet mouse to the movies, but one thing leads to another and the boy ends up doing more than just taking the mouse to the movies. Each thing the boy and the mouse do, reminds the mouse of something else he needs or wants to do. At the end of the story, we see that sometimes the things we do lead us to things we wouldn’t expect.

The pictures in this story are what really tell the story. Because there is only about one sentence on each page, it would be hard to picture what the mouse was doing and how he and the boy were reacting to each activity they did. The illustrations are fun and colorful. This book is playful, I mean, what kid hasn’t thought about what he would do if he had a pet mouse. Kids can relate to this story because most children are scatter brained and when plan to do just one thing with a child, you never know where you are going to end up

This book is fiction because a mouse could never make a popcorn strand or make Christmas ornaments. This book doesn’t even name the boy or the mouse that went to the movies. The illustrations are cartoonish and give a safe child-like feel to the book. This book could be used to introduce children to the concept that some story plots end where they started so it is easier for children to predict what happens next. This story could be used as a beginner book that student might be able to read on their own. I would also use this story as a story children could enjoy during silent reading time, or this book could be used as a read aloud and guided questions about sequence of events could be asked.

Links to Mass Frameworks

Pre-Kindergartners (older 4-year-olds to younger 5-year-olds):                MA.2.With prompting and support, retell a sequence of events from a story read aloud	Kindergartners:
Key Ideas and Details
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas MA.7. With prompting and support, make predictions about what happens next in a picture book after examining and discussing the illustrations. (Pre-K)
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

MA.10. Listen actively as an individual and as a member of a group to a variety of age-appropriate literature read aloud.