Seven Blind Mice (1992)

by Ed Young

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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2,570	93	5,485	(4.13)	12
Retells in verse the Indian fable of the blind men discovering different parts of an elephant and arguing about its appearance. The illustrations depict the blind arguers as mice.

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CCBC says "An adaptation of the Indian Fable "The Blind Men and the Elephant" cleverly uses paper collage set on a black background." In this charming and colorful story the seven colorful blind mice each take a turn trying to identify and guess what they are feeling, each on a different day of the week. It's only after the seventh mouse thoroughly explores the shape and puts the others' theories together do they finally 'see' the truth. They all explore together and agree that the object is an elephant. This appealing tale ends with a "Mouse Moral: Knowing in part may make a fine tale, but wisdom comes from seeing the whole."

DeborahMc | Jul 25, 2023 |

This is based on a Buddhist story. The underlying concept is that there is more than one way to look at things ... I know some adults who could use this book! (

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coffeechic | May 31, 2023 |

Genre
Fables
Folklore
Picture books for children
Stories in rhyme
Writing Style
Spare
Illustration
Colorful
Inventive
Subject
Elephants
Mammals
Mice
Perspective, Personal
Senses and sensation
Touch

kmgerbig | May 15, 2023 |

Tale about how the whole can be different from the parts and the need to sometimes look at that level to know something.

kakanihome | Dec 12, 2022 |

PK-5
Randolph Caldecott Medal 1938-2021
Boston-Globe Horn Book Award 1967-2021

NyNy_ | Nov 15, 2021 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Ed Young	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Adamson, Rick	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Schulz, Katrin	Übersetzer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Uribe, Veronica	—	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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Canonical title

Seven Blind Mice

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1992

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Awards and honors

Epigraph

Dedication

To Wang Kwong-Mei, who opened my eyes to the joy of knowledge and wisdom in those trying years.

First words

One day seven blind mice were surprised.

Quotations

And when the other mice ran up one side and down the other, across the Something from end to end, they agreed. Now they saw, too.

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

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Wikipedia in English

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▾Book descriptions

Retells in verse the Indian fable of the blind men discovering different parts of an elephant and arguing about its appearance. The illustrations depict the blind arguers as mice.

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Book description

The story is based upon an Indian tale, and is a fable that carries a great message that all young children can explore and learn. The message delivered is that looking at the whole of something is always better than viewing something in part. The story is presented simply and is not to wordy making it great for preschool. The book is great because it encourages the children to come up with their own thoughts about what they think the mice have found. The colorful mice also enourage a great discussion about color.

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