The Church Mice in Action

Humphrey and Arthur are at it again in The Church Mice in Action, the eighth installment of Graham Oakley's series of humorous picture-books detailing the adventures and misadventures of a group of church mice and their cat companion. Determined to solve the problem of the leaking vestry roof once and for all, Humphrey proposes that the mice enter Sampson in a cat competition, and make sure that he wins. Needless to say, hilarious hi-jinks ensue, and all does not go precisely as planned...

This may be the funniest book in Oakley's series, with Sampson's horrified reaction to the parson's sister, with her baby-talk ("Whoooose a boooooooooooooooooooootiful puddy tat den. Come to mummmmmy") and magnolia-scented baths, and Humphrey's show more "unsporting" plan to throw the competition. With the notable exception of The Church Mice at Bay, I have found the Church Mice books quite entertaining, and am sorry to see this diversion come to an end. There are a few more in the series, but I have been unable to locate them in my library system. Ah well, it was lovely while it lasted! show less

Number 8 in the Church Mice series is not one I had as a kid, so I don't have the same emotional connection to it, but it is still another piece of brilliance. This time the mice decide to rig cat competitions to earn money to fix the roof, only to be thwarted when Sampson is kidnapped. This one has a pretty blatant moral 'crime doesn't pay' which is unusual. Previously, though bad things happen to Sampson and the mice because of hubris, it is also just because they are extremely unlucky losers. It felt a bit weird to have a proper morality tale here. However, I was again lost in the beautiful, detailed pictures, giggling and awwing in delight and as usual there is masterful interplay between text and art. There has been a change show more between this book and the previous seven though because now the text is printed over the pictures. I don't particularly like this change. Firstly it is harder to read the text and secondly the pictures sort of fade out into just background colours, instead of being wall-to-wall detail. You're not actually losing anything, since this would just be white space previously, but it gives the illusion of losing something. So, odd choice. My edition is a 90s reprint so it has one of those covers that loses the back cover art. I hate that they did that. show less

More schemes and uproar perpetrated by Oakley's cat Sampson and the church mice, first seen lounging "in a mellow mood" until Sampson is taken into the vicarage by the parson's visiting sister. (In typical Oakley manner, she is pictured from Sampson's viewpoint as a looming, gussied-up fussbudget.) Although Sampson may not he happy with the dolling-up she gives him, the mice decide to make the best of it: they send a note suggesting that she enter Sampson in a cat show and use the "best-groomed" prize money he's now sure to win to fix the vestry roof. At mouse Humphrey's suggestion, the mice then conspire to ensure that Sampson will win: Oakley tells us only, "The plan was very simple, though it called for the most steely nerved of mice show more to carry it out" - but the pictures show us why that's so, with mice peeking out from the judge's sleeves, enticing the other cats to break decorum and become "devilish fiends" and "ravaging" beasts." The plan goes awry when two scuzzy characters, disguised as a revolting Texan tourist couple, kidnap Sampson and the prize money. The mice rush to the rescue. . . and so begins the obligatory chase that takes them all into the countryside and up against a charging bull, a line of laundry, a hive of bees, and a fire that finishes off the prize money. It all ends on a typical dry note: "So there were no more cat shows. A few days later the parson's sister went home and soon after that the last whiffs of Magnolia Blossom faded out of Sampson's fur and the mice stopped holding their noses when they came near him." And that earlier cat show is worth attending. show less

Adventure

We had an ex-library copy, but got rid of it when my wife discovered it was missing a page.