The Church Mice Spread Their Wings

The fourth in a series of picture-books detailing the adventures of a group of church mice and their cat companion, The Church Mice Spread Their Wings sees Humphrey the Schoolmouse leading his companions on a weekend getaway, where they will have their "fevered brows soothed by the cool fingers of Mother Nature." Needless to say, all does not go quite as planned in this hilarious tale of "world" travel...

Discovered quite by chance, Graham Oakley's Church Mice series has provided a charming diversion, with engaging stories and humorous illustrations. My appreciation of them doesn't seem to be quite as enthusiastic as some other reviewers, perhaps because I never encountered them as a child. That said, I have enjoyed them, and think that show more this may be my favorite. The disconnect between the illustrations and the text is priceless, as is Sampson's decision to fall in with some of Humphrey's misconceptions. This one had me giggling. show less

In the fourth book of the Church Mice series, the mice decide to go on a nice outing to the countryside with the usual disastrous consequences. This one makes almost constant use of Oakley's wicked sense of humour through the juxtaposition of what the words and the pictures are telling us, which makes it an absolute delight. Something I love about the beautiful and detailed illustrations is that all the mice look the same. In this one you can generally tell who Humphrey is because he is carrying a map around, but otherwise all mice are equal, they look like mice. There is a tiny 'plot-hole' or stretching of disbelief in this one when Arthur and Humphrey get stuck in a loft, but we can plainly see a wooden ladder. The joke is that it is show more useless for such tiny creatures but they are mice, who are naturally excellent climbers so they could easily just run down the side of it, but I guess these are not mice-mice, they are the Church Mice who are too anthropomorphised to act that much like real mice. Sadly my edition again doesn't have a wrap-around cover so I think I am missing half an illustration, but I absolutely adore the title and end pages of this one - the title page for seeming kind of sweet and then ending with a big laugh as your eyes move to the bottom right of the illustration, and the end page for being rather ghoulish as baby mice flee in terror from Arthur and Humphrey. A delightful addition to the series with lots of laugh-out-loud moments. show less