Seven Blind Mice

This has been one of my favorites since it was quite new, when my older sons were reading it in school. I found the cover enchanting, with the contrast between the black silhouettes, the mottled earthy background, and the rainbow in the title. And the first few pages, with the rainbow grass stem shaped forms marching across, quite literally thrill me.

Then the structure of the story, which can be used to teach counting, colors, days of the week, ordinal numbers, and of course the theme as stated in the moral... oh, almost a perfect book. Imo, the only thing that could be improved is if the text was more rhythmically repetitive, instead of the fresh syntax for each exploration.

And what a wonderful theme it is, to look at the whole of show more something before making a judgement. I'm very glad I got this chance to reread the book and see how well it's held up. I'm giving it five stars, even though it's not absolutely perfect, because I love it and because I do think everyone would enjoy it and/or should read it. show less

I picked up this board book for the gorgeous illustrations, and ended up loving it for the moral, too: "Knowing in part may make a fine tale, but wisdom comes from seeing the whole."

Author/artist Ed Young, who won the prestigious Caldecott Medal for his 1990 picture-book, Lon Po Po, went on to win a Caldecott Honor with this 1992 title, which offers an inventive murine retelling of the classic Indian fable of The Blind Men and the Elephant. Seven blind mice, confronted with "a strange Something" by their pond, set out to solve the mystery of its existence. One by one they explore the Something, each coming to a different conclusion as to what it is. It falls to the final mouse to discover the truth, which he does by taking the time to "see" the entire picture, rather than just a piece of the whole.

Visually striking, with boldly graphic artwork - the pages themselves are solid black, the text is white, and the mice show more are vividly depicted using cut paper in bright colors (save for the final mouse, which is white) - Seven Blind Mice is a book that holds the reader's attention. It is easy to see why it was honored by the Caldecott committee! The story itself is simple but engaging, with its message of trying to "see" the whole picture, rather than just pieces of the puzzle, seamlessly presented as part of the tale. Recommended to young folklore enthusiasts, as well as to fans of Ed Young's marvelous artwork. show less

The artwork is done in stunning colors, silhouette style on black. Each of the mice (each a different color) takes a day during the week to examine the THING by their pond. As they describe it, we see a picture of what they thought they felt (a fan, a column, a snake), in their color.

The seventh finally understands that the THING is an elephant, by running all over the entire body instead of just a little bit.

I love the artwork. Gorgeous isn't too strong a word.

This is a very interesting story about looking at a big picture instead of each facet separately. The book ends with “knowing in part make a fine tale, but wisdom comes from seeing the whole”. The story starts with 7 blind mice trying to figure out what shows up at the pond. They judge and guess by textures and shapes, and each mouse has its own idea. One thinks it’s a snake, another thinks it’s a spear, another one - that it’s a rope. Only the last mouse has an epiphany that it is an elephant! A very entertaining story that teaches an all-time moral. Kids picked that one to read because the background is black and characters are brightly colored. Loved it.

This is a playful, imaginative, and educational take on an older fable/poem called Blind Men and the Elephant – A Poem by John Godfrey Saxe. It has older origins as an Indian tale. I first read it in a book with the same title as Saxe's but it had more traditional illustrations, and was not very creative. Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young, however, brings this classic tale into contemporary times through the use of bright colors, colorful mice (to help children learn their colors), and provide insight into what it might be like to be visually impaired. I think it is a thought-provoking tale, a little bit silly, but a good end to the story. The mice, elephant, and other characters in the story are vividly and prominently set in front of a show more black backdrop with white text. It all fits well together to create a lovely concept book for children to learn colors, days of the week, and numbers. show less

Seven Blind Mice is a tale about seven different mice who go separately to explore a "something" only to think it is seven different things. One mouse finally goes out and looks at all of the parts to discover it is one big elephant. The moral of the tale is to find wisdom by looking at the whole picture of some situations and not just the parts. The images in this book are done as paper cut outs in vibrant colors with simple designs that make it look like the mice really are seeing very different objects - or just one large funny shaped one. I like how simple the images are and how much they compliment the simplicity of the story. This one would be good to read with children, so long as they didn't feel pressured into learning a moral show more which the last page forces upon the reader instead of teaching through story directly. show less