by Moe Zilla

Created on: June 12, 2010

"After Thanksgiving dinner Mouse crept out of his hidey-hole and looked around…"

Everyone is asleep - even the green-eyed cat that's curled up by the fire. So the mouse scampers over the family's tablecloth, and surveys all the leftovers. He spots a delicious-looking green pea that's rolled under a plate. "Give thanks, he thought. One will be a feast for me." And he rolls the pea back across the tablecloth, to take to his hidey-hole…

But wait - there's cranberries! They're "glowing like rubies on a silver saucer." I love the illustration, which shows the mouse balancing himself at the top of a pile of a rolls in a bread basket. He holds his hand above his eyes, so he can spot those cranberries off on the distance. Eventually he's balancing a cranberry on top of the pea - but just then, he spots some leftover black olives in a dish!

Author Judy Cox is an elementary school teacher, and she's written another book about holidays - "Go to Sleep, Groundhog!" (The groundhog keeps waking up at the wrong time of the year, so he also experiences Halloween, Christmas, and - yes -Thanksgiving.) I really like how, in both books, she's found a way to give a new perspective to a familiar holiday. Here the animal actually has to sneak his way into the festivities, but it's nice to see that somewhere along the way, he's also learned the importance of being thankful.

All the grown-ups in the house are asleep after the feast - presumably because they've eaten way too much. But gluttony could get the mouse some serious cat trouble, since he's still got to make his way back to his hidey-hole. Soon the mouse has scooped up a carrot, and then he's balancing a plate of mashed potatoes - plus a gravy boat, the turkey platter, and a pie dish with a piece of pumpkin pie. Illlustrator Jeffrey Ebbeler seems to be having a lot of fun drawing the mouse's perspective on all the platters of food!

He makes sure to draw a funny-looking mouse, who's wearing a striped shirt and thick glasses. And for more comic effect, he show the mouse creeping past turkey-shaped place settings, and at one point even tiny ceramic pilgrims that were left behind as table decoration. But all the creeping and snatching doesn't do the mouse any good when the story reaches it's final showdown. The cat arrives, the mouse runs, and even the illustrator can't keep up with all the chaotic events.

But ironically, the cat gets blamed for upsetting the family's dinner table. And the brave mouse escapes to his hidey-hole…with that one delicious pea!

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.