The Church Mouse

First sentence: In a busy little town, not very far away, there is a church and in the church there lived a mouse whose name was Arthur.

Premise/plot: Arthur, the mouse, lives in a church. He is thankful for his situation; it is safe thanks to the church cat, Sampson, being so biblically sound and prone to meekness and loving his neighbor. But he is lonely for other mice. So he becomes a mouse on a mission and recruits other mice to come and join him at the church--with the full blessing of the parson. In exchange for helping out around the church, the parson will pay the mice in cheese. Heaven on earth essentially for these mice. But will his plan succeed?

My thoughts: I loved, loved, loved this one! I loved the story and the characters show more and the illustrations! I loved the little details. It is text-heavy. It may be a picture book, but, it is a picture book for older readers. I think it would work as a read aloud in very small groups. BUT I do think you'd need a good amount of attention span since it is a lot of text. Highly recommend. show less

If you've ever heard the phrase "poor as church mice," and wondered just what it is those impoverished rodents get up to in churches, then look no further. The first in a series of picture books devoted to the adventures of a group of mice who live in an English church (as well as their cat companion), The Church Mouse follows the story of Arthur, whose peaceful life in a small-town church is considerably enlivened when he invites the local mouse population to take up residence.

When Sampson the Church Cat, who "had listened to so many sermons about the meek being blessed and everybody really being brothers that he had grown quite frighteningly meek and treated Arthur just like a brother," forgets that he is "reformed," and causes an show more incident during worship, it looks like all the animals will have to go. But a late-night incident involving some very fishy goings-on gives Arthur, Sampson, and the Church Mice a chance to redeem themselves...

An engaging and humorous storyline, paired with Oakley's detailed, charming illustrations, make The Church Mouse an ideal selection for young children, whether they attend Sunday School or no. While I wouldn't describe this as one of the more stunning picture-books I have recently encountered, I was entertained, and will be looking for the next in the series. Of course, those who suffer from murophobia will want to avoid this title, as there are numerous pictures involving swarms of mice. show less

This picture book about a lonely mouse inviting all the town's mice to live with him in the church where the cat isn't a killer because of listening to 'brotherly love' sermons is perfect. Oakley's large, detailed watercolour illustrations are beautiful, adorable and hilarious, while the text is also very witty and clever. Each on their own is filled with enjoyment but the mix together where the pictures either add extra meaning to the words or humorously juxtapose them is sublime and creates an utter masterpiece.

In a busy little town, there is a church. And in that church lives a mouse named Arthur and a cat named Samson. Arthur never worried about Samson since the cat had heard so many sermons about brotherhood that he treated the mouse like a brother.

But Arthur is the only mouse in the church, and he was lonely. And so, with the parson’s concurrence, Arthur invited all the other mice in town to come live with him in the church. But when Samson forgets himself and chases the mice during the sermon, the congregation declares that the mice must go.

But before they can all leave, a burglar comes to steal the congregation’s cherished candlesticks.

What can the mice possibly do to stop the burglar from stealing the candlesticks?

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Preschool show more through primary grade readers, ages four through eight, are the target audience for this amazing picture book. However, there is significantly more text than is generally found in a picture book and the clever story is both cute and appealing to readers. Thus, older elementary school readers may enjoy this book as well.

The colorful, intricate illustrations are simply beautiful; the story is one for parents and children to share. It’s heartwarming, it’s enchanting, it holds the young reader’s interest. This is sure to become one of the young reader’s favorite books.

Highly recommended. show less

Cute story, and the illustrations are fantastic, with little Anglican touches.

Summer reading that the family left at my house. Not doing anything new, either in terms of art or story, I'm afraid.

A lonely mouse living in a church with only a friendly, sleepy cat for company devises a plan to get all the mice in town to move in with him.