[A Little Bit of Love] [By: Cynthia Platt] [March, 2011]

by Cynthia Platt

Start with a hungry small mouse who is tired of cheese. Add her mama and an idea for the perfect treat. Mix in a search for some special ingredients, and you have a sweet-as-pie picture book to share with someone you love! A beautifully illustrated story about a small mouse who learns that when you make something for your little one, it's always made of love. Feel fuzzy mice on the cover of this charming read-aloud that's just right for a baker's little helper!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Storytime, Food, Family, Love

Paperback

First published March 1, 2011

Reviews

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

A small mouse craves something sweet to eat, and mother mouse shows her how with a little hard work for the ingredients and a little love that in no time something sweet and new was ready to eat.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you a mama looking for a bedtime story to share with your kiddos to remind them how you love them? This is the book. It's as cute and sweet as pie! 😉

[Cassidy Wells · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a cute book for young children and it had a good message about having to work hard for what you want in life. Picture Book.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet tale of a mama mouse teaching her daughter about baking and where the ingredients come from. It's a simple story and it emphasizes how our food is made with love. I love that it shows the origins of our food; for example, it depicts how butter is made from cream that is shaken (a lot). The illustrations are adorable and the story is great for reading aloud. We really enjoyed reading this story together.

Slightly off-topic, I happened to be watching an online video of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (second season) yesterday and it showed him quizzing high school students (mostly 17 year olds) and many of them did not know where different foods come from (like butter!) This was completely shocking to me. I hope that by reading books like this at an early age and by cooking together, I can prevent this kind of ignorance in our girls. I like that Jamie teaches the teens that we should eat food with ingredients that we can recognize. It's something we should all do and this book helps to encourage that.

[K.L. Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've ever taken the time to bake a cake, cookies or pie with your little one, this is a great story to share with them. Small mouse wants a snack. Momma mouse offers her a piece of cheese, small mouse is tired of cheese. She is craving something sweet. Together momma mouse and small go out together collecting things made with love to create a sweet tasting pie. All the things that gather together are made with love. Sharing this experience together is a symbol of love, caring and sharing.
This is an excellent way to share with a child. Bake something together and read this book. Parents can share stories about baking with their parent when they were a child. Everyone has a story like this to share. Well done Cynthia and Hannah!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Little Bit Of Love is a very sweet book. Small mouse wants a sweet snack, so momma mouse takes baby around to find the fixings for a huckleberry pie. Momma finds love in everything they find, from the honey, to the flour, to the cream. Together they make the pie.

I really liked they way the author shows that the ingredients for the pie do not come from the store. She gives a demonstration of making butter by having the little mouse shake the cream in a jar. Yes, the mother shows how much she loves baby by making the pie. I liked the many different endearments Mother uses to talk to baby. The illustrations fit the story well. Overall, I would recommend it, especially if teaching descriptive language.

[Terry]

My 4-year-old wanted to read this book over and over. It was the book he asked for first each night. He loved listening to it, although I suspect he also loved that the little mouse got to eat blueberry pie over and over again! I was surprised. My son typically likes high energy books. I liked this book a medium amount.

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this sweet book about collecting ingredients from the farm to make a bit of something sweet, with a little bit of love. Dovetailing on Joel Salatin's book, Folks This Ain't Normal, it brought to my attention that all our food can and should be produced with love, and by our own hands, with gratitude, and freshly, and from local ingredients, when possible. Delightful illustrations. Few words.

[Allison Burke]

This is another sweet book that's family oriented. It's a mother and her baby mouse and they are baking a pie. The mother teaches her little mouse about how everything parents do for their children is because of love and is made with love. This is also a great book for children who love baking. Grades prek-2

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a little too sickly sweet for me, but if you have a child interested in baking you talk about all the love that goes into making something. Also could be used as a "where food comes from" lesson

[Ashley Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would use this book to talk about the relationship between the mother and the daughter. I would also use it to talk about the resources each different place offers. I would turn that to real life and talk about the different resources we find in our community.

[Yelena · Rating 1 out of 5]

Twee. Toothache inducing. Verbose. The illustrations could've been charming, but were unfortunately combined with sickeningly sweet and needlessly didactic text.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, and though the baby mouse is a little dense, the idea that things that are worthwhile sometimes require effort and that love comes in different guises is one many families will appreciate.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A simple story with a sweet message, but it is to didactic for my tastes.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet, but nothing particularly new or attention-grabbing.

[D1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

So sweet!

[Gretchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute picture book about a mama mouse and her little "velvet tail" gathering ingredients for a pie. Perfect for a flannel story!