I don't remember reading Arnold Lobel's Mouse Soup for the first time. The publication date is 1977, so it has to have been sometime around then. I vaguely remember having it on a record, one of those that *ding* when you have to turn the page.I do not remember the last time I sat down and read the whole thing through. So probably since the first time in 1977? 1978? 1979?, I read Mouse Soup. It's a perfect book.The story I remember most vividly from being a little kid reading it was "Bees and the Mud." I remember my little brother and I giggling over it, particularly "We like your ears, we like your nose, we like your whiskers..." It's still funny, but I think it must have been funny then because of the way it was read on the record."Two Large Stones" is an amazingly philosophical story, the kind of story that Arnold Lobel tells all the time. It's a sad sort of story too. Is Lobel telling us that if we wait long enough, we'll be happy with where we are at? That the grass is green on both sides of the hill? That birds are liars?"The Crickets" is delightful, particularly the pictures of the heroine; she looks like a mouse version of Juliet. Next to "Bees in the Mud," this is my favorite, the other one I eventually want to try and read aloud to a group of kids."The Thorn Bush" is another one with sort of a philosophical, and also romantic, bent. Again, what is Lobel trying to say here? If "Bees" and "Crickets" are kind of funny but throwaway pieces, "Stones" and "Bush" are, in my opinion, trying to make us think. "Bush" is about the thorns of love, about not jumping to conclusions, about simple solutions, about being different, about aging: "I do not want to sit down," says the old lady. "I have been sitting down all my life. I love my thorn bush. I am crying because it is sick." Eventually, we all find something that makes us stop sitting down, that makes us want to make a difference in the world.The mouse and soup portions at the beginning and end are delightful. Of course, the first chapter is the story of Scheherazade, in mini-mouse land. Mouse must tell stories to save his life. The end, where the weasel goes to gather stones, mud, crickets, and thorns is pure folktale, all Brer Rabbit and the briar patch.The world is a cruel place, full of weasels that want to eat you. Stories can save us, as can a little trickery.
This book is about a mouse who was reading a book when he was caught by a weasel who wanted to make mouse soup. Before the weasel could put the mouse into his soup the mouse quickly convinced him that his soup would be extra good if he put stories into it as well. The mouse told four different stories to the weasel. The first story is called "Bees and the Mud." It is about bees nesting on the mouse's head and how he tricked them to get them to leave. The second story is called "Two Large Stones" and it is about two rocks wondering what is on the other side of the hill that they are on. The third story is called "The Crickets" and it is about a mouse who couldn't sleep because of the cricket's singing. Finally, he tells the story called "The Torn Bush" which is about a woman who was sad because her thorn bush was dying. All of these stories distract the weasel from cooking the mouse. The weasel asks the mouse how to actually add these stories to his mouse soup and the mouse informs him he needs to go out and collect these items. When the weasel does this the mouse escapes to go home and finish reading his book. I liked the ending because the mouse finishes reading his book the same time the reader finsigheds this one. I like how there are several different stories inside of one. This makes the book more interesting to read. This book is an "I can read" level two. It would be appropriate for grades k-2 depending on the student's reading level. There is a decent amount of text, but not a lot. The words in the book are fairly simple and should be able to be read by a student on their own. The illustrations on each page help to clarify what is happening on that page. This is especially helpful for the reader if they are unsure of a word or does not fully understand what they just read. By breaking up the text with the illustrations, reading a longer book seems less intimidating. The illustrations also make the book more entertaining and exciting to read.
What do You think about Mouse Soup (1983)?
There are so many books about little "prey" animals teaching predatory animals a lesson by outwitting them. (My personal favorite is probably Kasza's My Lucky Day.) Since I have no personal connection to this book from my youth, it ends up getting the full brunt of my evaluation. And comes up wanting. With so many books to compare this one to, I found it a drag. I believe it has its place, and that is probably to a little girl who loves the likes of Beatrix Potter and The Velveteen Rabbit. It's cut from the same mold, just not as good (in my opinion). It's a more advanced picture book, and most suitable for good readers who can manage a few paragraphs. But, I wouldn't rush to pick this one up personally...
—Magila
What a delightful, odd little book. It plays on the age-old trope of the witty small guy (the mouse) having a run-in with an animal (the weasel) who wants to eat him (the soup) and, of course, escaping. One wonders how predators ever survive in these worlds, since they never seem to get to eat anything. Anyway, the mouse pulls a Scheherezade-style gambit, offering the weasel stories that will make the soup more tasty, thereby deferring his fate. The four stories are an odd and eclectic mix: one parallels the mouse's situation, as it is itself a little folk tale about a mouse escaping from a crown of bees (and is in fact a play on fables such as the fox and the fleas, in which submersion drives the pests away--an inronic contrast on the mouse's soupy situation, perhaps); one is a whimsical tale about a mouse pestered by singing crickets; one is a parable about desire, in which two rocks wonder what's over the horizon; and one is an odd tale about a mouse with a thorn bush growing in her chair, which ends up sprouting roses. The weasel, being a literalist, believes the mouse when the mouse tells him that to flavour his soup with these stories he must add the things from them (notably never the mice, just the bees, mud, rocks, crickets and so on) to the tureen. When he goes out to gather them the mouse of course makes good his escape. It's a fun story, with interesting meta elements, and with vibrant, amusing illustrations.
—Dominick
"Mouse Soup" by Arnold Lobel is an easy-to-read children's book that also makes for a good read aloud for younger ages. This story is about a mouse who was reading a story one day and finds himself in the hands of a weasel who wants to make him into a soup and eat him. Being quick on his toes the mouse tells the weasel that in order to make the soup taste better he would need to add stories to it and proceeds to tell 4 seperate store. The first story is about a mouse who tries to get a hive of bees off his head by walking into mud. The next was about Two large stones who lived on the side of a hill and became sad because they realized what all they could be missing on the other side of the hill that they could not see. The 3rd story was about a girl who had a cricket singing outside her window when she was trying to sleep and every time she asked it to stop he would bring more crickets to sing with him. The final story the mouse told was about a thorn bush that was growing out of an old lady's living room chair and when she puts water on them they grow large roses. When the mouse finishes his stories he sends the weasel off to collect items from the stories to add to the soup and while he is out he escapes. I enjoyed this short novel and thought it was a clever book that could be read a loud to small children. This book is also a good choice for beginning readers because the vocabulary is simple yet descriptive. Although it was published quite awhile ago, the illustrations are not too dated and use bold colors. I liked the way the author incorporated different stories with different lessons into one. I would use this book for children ages 4-8 .
—Sarah Seasor
