The Biggest Valentine Ever

Mouseville

by Steven Kroll, Jeni Bassett (Illustrator)

A Valentine's themed installment in the New York Times bestselling series, The Biggest Ever! Two friends decide to make a Valentine's Day card together but when things go awry, they break into a fight. A sweet tale about love and friendship that is perfect for all-year-round! When Mrs. Mousely asks her class to make valentines, Clayton and Desmond decide to make one together and give it to their teacher as a surprise. But things don't go as planned. First Clayton puts too much glitter on the card. Then Desmond puts on too many hearts. Soon the friends are arguing and they rip the card in half. "I'm going to make my own valentine!" they both say and go home in a huff. Will Clayton and Desmond make up in time for Valentines Day?

Genres: Picture Books, Holiday, Childrens, Friendship, Animals, School, Fiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Stephen Kroll spoke at schools and conferences all over the world. He was married to the journalist, Kathleen Beckett, and they lived in New York City and an old carriage house in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. When he was not writing or traveling, he played a lot of tennis and walked around looking at everything.

Reviews

[Harlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t wait for Valentine’s Day!

[Emery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Library date ♡

[Sarah Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Text to Teaching Connection
The Biggest Valentine Ever is a fun book you can read to your class when it is close to Valentine's day. You can use this story to introduce Valentine's day to your student and to talk about working together. In the story, there is a conflict between the two mouses and they have to work together to solve the problem. This is a perfect story to explain conflict and conflict resolution between friends and sometimes how working together has a better outcome. After the discussion you can have the students make their own valentines as a fun hands-on activity and a keepsake for their parents or allow them to make them for their friends.

[Melissa Mckee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kroll, Steven. The Biggest Valentine Ever. Scholastic Inc, 2006
This story is about two mice working together to make a Valentine’s Day card for their teacher. The book contains detailed illustrations that help the children utilize their imagination in correlating the mice with people and the task at hand. This book is cheerful and invites the children to comprehend without thoughts of a condescending tone. The book efficiently depicts the importance of sharing and collaboration. I feel that this book is aimed towards 1st graders because it teaches children to work together towards a common goal.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be a good book to read for Valentines Day and it's also good to read to teach students about the importance of sharing and how the work of 2 people is better than individual work and how we should take advantage of all of our different talents.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

45 months - There are few Valentine books out there and this one is better than most... All about friendship and working together.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary:
The Biggest Valentine Ever is about two little mice, Clayton and Desmond who at first struggle to work together, but soon realize that by working together the two can accomplish much more and make the biggest, cutest, mouse valentine ever.

Clayton is good at designing and cutting out the valentine and Desmond is good at decorating, but the two can't seem to agree, so they try making the valentine's on their own but don't feel as if what they make individually is quite right.

This is a wonderful story to read to children to teach a lesson about working together. Kids have to work together on school projects all the time and there's always someone who wants to take over the project or there's often two people that can't agree. The moral of this story is that together two heads are better than one and can accomplish much more together than by working alone.

A wonderful read aloud on Valentine's Day.

[Kayla Angeletti · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so cute, and the illustrations were my favorite part of the book! From reading the first page I did not think it would end up being about their teacher until I read further into the book, so it was very surprising! This book was about friends who got into a fight but then overcame their differences and began working together again. The two mice found out that they work better together than they did alone because they saw that one of them did something better than the other. They finally realized that working with each other was not bad and that it was the best thing for them as they made the cutest and biggest valentine that I have ever seen! The message I got from the story is that overcoming differences with someone may work out for you in the long run! I would love to read this book to my students in my future classroom!

[Charlotte S · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Valentine's Day, and Desmond and Clayton want to make a special Valentine for their teacher, Mrs. Mousely. But when they start making it, Clayton says that Desmond put too many hearts on, and Desmond says that Clayton glued too much glitter on! Will they agree on what to do with the Valentine? I have a bunch of Steven Kroll's other books, like The Biggest Snowman Ever, and The Biggest Pumpkin Ever. They're all great ones, and worth looking into. Thank you for reading! Follow @bronteandwilder on Instagram for more fun book recommendations!

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was almost Valentine's Day, and Mrs. Mousely asked all her students to make valentines. Clayton and Desmond decided to make one together because they were friends, but it didn't turn out well. They were angry at each other until they decided to try again. Their second attempt was amazing. Nicely illustrated.

[Francine Apollo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet little book for toddlers. It is unpaged but is 30 pages so it is short and sweet. There is more than Valentine's Day, friendship and cooperation to explore with your toddler. The classroom pages have things to identify. The at home pages, likewise, has objects to identify!

This is a gift for our 3 year old granddaughter and I am sure she will enjoy it!

[Cassidy Major · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great fiction story for use, of course, around the Valentine holiday! They loved when we got to the panoramic illustration of "The Biggest Valentine Ever". It really gets them in the spirit around this holiday.

This book is great for K-2!

[Holly Letson · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZRyg...
I watched this on YouTube as a read-along/audiobook @ Storytime Now!

This was a delightful story of two classmates learning that they could achieve much more together as a team than individually.

[Mollie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Autumn's(3yr old) review - I like it very much. Clayton and Desmond didn't want to make a Valentine together. Clayton didn't listen to his dad. Desmond didn't listen to his uncle. They fell off the bus.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two mice learn that their joint efforts are better than their individual efforts. The moral could be two hearts are not better than one. It is a cute extra book to have in your Valentine's Day reading pile but not one of our favorites.

[Wyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. The pictures were great, the story was awesome. This book is about two mice who are both trying to make a valentine for their teacher together. They get in a fight, and to find out what happens next you have to get the book. You SHOULD get the book.

[Ashley Anita-Barriga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two students are working together but conflict arises. However, they are able to solve their problem and work together to make a valentine for their teacher. It feels like older generation books but aimed for elementary.

[Abbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Valentine's story shares the importance of friendship and that sometimes working together gets the best result. I love that Clayton and Desmond were able to get past their stylistic differences to create a masterpiece together. The illustrations are cute and match the story wonderfully.

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked how I could use this book for many different reasons. I could use it to introduce team work. But I could also introduce Valentine’s Day and have them work on their own crafts afterwards.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read with PreK and Kindergarten. They loved it apparently. Also good to show working together.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the author who brought us the children's classic, The Biggest Pumpkin Ever, comes this book about a jumbo Valentine. It teaches about friendship & cooperation.

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

We liked how this story showed how sometimes it’s best to work together. Bit repetitive.

[TCNS]

2 copies available

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not very interesting, but what they make at the end would be fun to replicate in class or wear is a costume.

[Kim Hampton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teaches kids how to work together and get along with each other.

[shay]

Clayton and Desmond realize that by working together they can make the best Valentine.

[PottWab Regional Library]

SM

[Kylie Grace Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book and how it portrays elementary friendships- how little "disagreements" doesn't mean the end of the world, and sometimes you need to compromise!

[Marlaine Legault · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ever year I read this story around Saint-Valentine's day. This book is about teamwork and an introduction to do Saint-Valentine's card with the kids.

[Katelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this for my son for Valentine’s Day. It was definitely nostalgic reading it, but he’s still a little too young for it. 10/10 illustrations