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Draft:Holiday Mice!

Holiday Mice!
AuthorBethany Roberts
IllustratorDoug Cushman
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreChildren's fiction
Publisher
Published1995–2004

Holiday Mice! is the informal title of a children's book series written by Bethany Roberts and illustrated by Doug Cushman. It was published between 1995 and 2004 by Houghton Mifflin's Clarion imprint.[1]

Books

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As listed in Gale's Something About the Author.[1]

The series, which consists of seven titles, was referred to as Holiday Mice (without the exclamation mark) by Publishers Weekly in 2004.[2] In each book, a family of mice—two children plus their mother and father—celebrate the titular holidays.[3]

  • Halloween Mice! (1995; ISBN 0-395-67064-0) — The mouse family wards off a cat during their midnight party at a pumpkin patch.[4]
  • Valentine Mice! (January 2, 1997; ISBN 0-395-77518-3) — The family sends out Valentine's Day cards to forest residents as they travel through a snow-covered landscape.[5]
  • Christmas Mice! (2000; ISBN 0-395-91204-0) — During their Christmas festivities, they receive a holiday cheese from a nearby cat, and return the favor by sending it a cookie.[6]
  • Thanksgiving Mice! (September 2001; ISBN 0-618-12040-8) — The family puts on a play about the origins of the holiday.[7]
  • Birthday Mice! (October 21, 2002; ISBN 0-618-31367-2) — When their son turns two, the parents hold a birthday for him in a forest clearing, set to a cowboy theme.[8][9]
  • Easter Mice! (2003; ISBN 0-618-16455-3) — While on an Easter egg hunt, the son in the family feels left out without finding an egg.[10]
  • Fourth of July Mice! (May 2004; ISBN 0-618-31367-2) — The family spends Independence Day holding a parade, playing baseball, swimming in the pool, and enjoying fireworks among other activities.[11][12]

Reception

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Reception of the Holiday Mice! books was mixed-to-positive. Cushman's artwork was praised, but occasional criticism was leveraged towards Roberts' "choppy" rhyming text.[6][10][13]

Reviewing the debut installment, Halloween Mice!, Virginia Opocensky of the School Library Journal (SLJ) remarked that the "Full-page watercolors are appropriate for the holiday while not too scary for the intended audience."[4] When Christmas Mice was published a few years later, another SLJ reviewer wrote, "The rhyming text works hard to stick to a basic vocabulary, but the story falls flat."[6] The publication noted similar problems with the later Thanksgiving and Birthday installments,[7][14] but gave their approval to Fourth of July;[12] Carol Marshall nitpicked Thanksgiving's historical accuracy.[7] In 1997, the staff of Publishers Weekly called Valentine's Mice "[a] spirited if slight holiday caper."[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b Kumar, Lisa, ed. (2010). "Roberts, Bethany 1949–". Something About the Author. Vol. 202. Gale Research. p. 153. ISBN 978-1-4144-3499-5. Retrieved July 4, 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ Zaleski, Jeff (May 3, 2004). "Children's Notes: A Red-White-and-Blue Parade". Publishers Weekly. Vol. 251, no. 18. pp. 194–195. ISSN 0000-0019. Retrieved July 4, 2024 – via ProQuest.
  3. ^ Fowler, Bonnie (June 27, 2004). "Children's Books: Flag-waving tales will make for amusing holiday reading". Winston-Salem Journal. p. A18. Archived from the original on July 5, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b Opocensky, Virginia (September 1, 1995). "Book Review / Preschool & Primary: 'Halloween Mice!'". School Library Journal. Vol. 41, no. 9. p. 185. ISSN 0362-8930. Retrieved July 4, 2024 – via EBSCOhost.
  5. ^ "Review: 'Valentine Mice!'". Kirkus Reviews. No. 23. December 1, 1997. ProQuest 917218070. Retrieved July 4, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Olivo-Posner, Diane (October 2000). "Review: 'Christmas Mice!'". School Library Journal. Vol. 46, no. 10. p. 62. ISSN 0362-8930. Retrieved July 4, 2024 – via ProQuest.
  7. ^ a b c Marshall, Carol (September 2001). "Review: 'Thanksgiving Mice!'". School Library Journal. Vol. 47, no. 9. p. 204. ISSN 0362-8930. Retrieved July 4, 2024 – via ProQuest.
  8. ^ "Review: 'Birthday Mice!'". Kirkus Reviews. Vol. 70, no. 19. October 1, 2002. p. 1478. ISSN 1948-7428. ProQuest 917092885. Retrieved July 4, 2024.
  9. ^ Roback, Diane; Brown, Jennifer M.; Britton, Jason (October 7, 2002). "Children's Notes: Encore Performances: 'Birthday Mice!'". Publishers Weekly. Vol. 249, no. 40. p. 75. ISSN 0000-0019. EBSCOhost 7526093. Retrieved July 4, 2024.
  10. ^ a b "PR" (January–June 2003). "Preschool: 'Easter Mice!'" (PDF). The Horn Book. Vol. 14, no. 2. p. 309. ISSN 1044-405X. Retrieved July 4, 2024 – via ProQuest.
  11. ^ Fletcher, Connie (May 2004). "Review: 'Fourth of July Mice!'". Booklist. Vol. 100, no. 18. p. 1626. ISSN 0006-7385. Retrieved July 4, 2024 – via ProQuest.
  12. ^ a b Owen, Maryanne H. (June 2004). "Review: 'Fourth of July Mice!'". School Library Journal. Vol. 50, no. 6. p. 117. ISSN 0362-8930. Retrieved July 4, 2024 – via ProQuest.
  13. ^ a b Roback, Diane; Brown, Jennifer M.; Di Marzo, Cindi (December 1, 1997). "Review: 'Valentine Mice!'". Publishers Weekly. Vol. 244, no. 49. p. 52. ISSN 0000-0019. Retrieved July 4, 2024 – via ProQuest.
  14. ^ Sheridan, Eileen (December 2002). "Review: 'Birthday Mice!'". School Library Journal. Vol. 48, no. 12. p. 107. ISSN 0362-8930. Retrieved July 4, 2024 – via ProQuest.
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