If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

U.S. cover
Author Laura Numeroff
Illustrator Felicia Bond
Country United States
Language English
Genre Children's literature
Publisher Harper & Row
Publication date
 1985
Pages 28
ISBN 0060245867
OCLC 11068035
Followed by If You Give a Moose a Muffin (1991)

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is a children's book written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond. Described as a "circular tale,"[1] it is Numeroff and Bond's first collaboration in what came to be the If You Give... Book™ series.[2]

Text

From If You Give a Mouse a Cookie


The book is known for its playful, circular pattern. A boy gives a cookie to a mouse. The mouse asks for a glass of milk. He then requests a straw (to drink the milk), a mirror (to avoid a milk mustache), nail scissors (to trim his hair in the mirror), and a broom (to sweep up his hair trimmings). Next he wants to take a nap, to have a story read to him, to draw a picture, and to hang the drawing on the refrigerator. Looking at the refrigerator makes him thirsty, so the mouse asks for a glass of milk. The circle is complete when he wants a cookie to go with it.

Author Laura Numeroff has often said in interviews that the idea for the story came to her during a long car trip she took with a friend from San Francisco to Oregon. She narrated it as they drove and later wrote it down. The manuscript was passed over by nine publishers before being taken on by Laura Gerringer, a publisher under the Harper and Row (now HarperCollins) imprint, who immediately thought of Felicia Bond to illustrate it.

Art

From If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

The text was interpreted by illustrator Felicia Bond to show the increasing energy of the mouse, with the little boy being run ragged by the end of the story. The art was praised by School Library Journal for its "meticulous attention to detail",[1] and was executed with vibrant colors of blended pencil in a complex process of layering red, blue, yellow and black on separate sheets, which were then assembled during printing.

Bond describes rushing to get the sketches done before leaving town with her boyfriend and that the energy of the mouse evolved from that excitement. She has mentioned on numerous occasions that the little boy in the book was her boyfriend, Stephen Roxburgh, as a child.

Popular Culture

From If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie[3] quickly became established as a popular favorite and is today considered a contemporary classic, with over four million copies sold. A series of seventeen titles[4] followed, with sales exceeding sixteen million. They have been translated into more than thirteen languages. The If You Give... Book™ series has garnered numerous awards, and their popularity is witnessed by their consistent presence on The New York Times Best Seller List. Many of the books were the #1 best-sellers in the picture book category. The If You Give... books have become so embedded in our culture that If You Give a Mouse a Cookie was mentioned in the movie Airforce One,[5] on the television show The L Word and in Mad Magazine. Charles Schulz created two Peanuts strips[6] about If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, and in 2000 Oprah Winfrey chose If You Give a Pig a Pancake as one of her favorite things in 2000.[7] She also included it on her list Oprah’s Favorite Things from A-Z in that same year.[8] "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" was the answer to a question on Jeopardy!. The books have been adapted into plays for children's theaters across the country,[9][10]

[11] [12][13] The Bronx Zoo in New York featured the art in their Children's Zoo for one year and the artwork has been used to create murals in the wings of children's hospitals. The series has fans of all ages from all over the world including Japan, where an entire Tokyo city bus was painted with images of Mouse. Mouse also made it to the White House; in Laura Bush's Celebration of American Authors at the 2001 Presidential Inauguration Felicia Bond and Laura Numeroff were among those honored for their If You Give... Book™ series,[14] and the former First Lady writes that the Bush family cat India's favorite book was If You Take a Mouse to the Movies. A bronze sculpture of her sleeping on the book is included in the George W. Bush Presidential Library.[15] First Lady Michele Obama read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie on the White House lawn during the 2009 Easter Egg Roll.[16]

Mouse's popularity inspired many subsequent books.

Directv parodied the books by using storylines in commercials for their "Get Rid Of Cable" campaign where people who have cable get frustrated with it and the commercials end with disastrous results such as driving into a pizzeria that makes great baked Ziti or your daughter giving birth to a son in a dog collar.

If You Give... Book™ Series

See mousecookiebooks.com
From If You Give a Pig a Party

Compilation Editions If You Give... Book™ Series

Awards and Recognitions - If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

The If You Give... Book™ series has also received numerous awards and recognitions.

Awards and Recognitions - If You Give... Book™ Series

From If You Give a Pig a Party

If You Give A Moose A Muffin

If You Give A Pig A Pancake

If You Take A Mouse To The Movies

If You Take A Mouse To School

If You Give A Pig A Party

Selected translations

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jones, Trev (May 1985). "Numeroff, Laura Joffe. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (review)". School Library Journal 31 (9): 80.
  2. ↑ If You Give...™ Book series - list of all If You Give...™ books
  3. ↑ If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, first collaborative work written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond
  4. ↑ If You Give...™ books illustrated by Felicia Bond
  5. ↑ The New York Times, Just a Little Turbulence, Mr. President By Janet Maslin Published: July 25, 1997
  6. ↑ Charles Schulz features If You Give a Mouse a Cookie in Peanuts, The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators, Anita Silvey (Houghton Mifflin, 2002) ISBN 0-618-19082-1
  7. ↑ "...written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond is the perfect gift for the little ones in your life. "It just thrilled me," Oprah says."
  8. ↑ Oprah’s Favorite Things from A-Z - If You Give a Pig a Pancake
  9. ↑ Kreiswirth, Sandra (September 13, 1991). "Van Johnson to Star in 'Show Boat'". Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA).
  10. ↑ Silk, Chris (June 11, 2010). "Review: Naples Players Create Chaotic Fun with 'If You Give a Mouse a Cookie'". Naples Daily News. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Reading Rainbow: Season 10, Episode 2. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (19 Oct. 1993)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
  12. ↑ Cherry, Nanciann (September 29, 2005). "Diversity Rules: Comedies and a Folk Tale Featured on Area Stages". Toledo Blade. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
  13. ↑ "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie & Other Story Books". Theatreworks USA. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
  14. ↑ Laura Bush read If You Take a Mouse to the Movies to the children over the holidays.
  15. ↑ India "Willie Bush, the family cat's favorite book If You Take a Mouse to the Movies
  16. ↑ If You Give a Mouse a Cookie on the White House lawn
  17. ↑ New York Times Best Seller List If You Give a Dog a Doughnut
  18. ↑ If You Give a Child a Book, HarperCollins book donation program
  19. ↑ Alabama Children's Choice Book Award, now named Alabama Camellia Children's Choice Award
  20. ↑ Renaming of award
  21. ↑ California Young Reader Medal
  22. ↑ Colorado Children's Book Award
  23. ↑ Georgia Children's Picture Storybook Award
  24. ↑ Nevada Young Reader's Award
  25. ↑ Buckeye Children's Book Award
  26. ↑ Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
  27. ↑ Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
  28. ↑ Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Blue Chip Classic Award If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award If You Give a Moose a Muffin
  30. ↑ If You Take a Mouse to School Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Awards

Further reading

External links