Mouse and Mole, Fine Feathered Friends

Wong Herbert Yee's Mouse and Mole

by Wong Herbert Yee

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. It is a blustery spring day, and Mouse and Mole are very excited. They are going to go bird watching! They are planning to make bird books! Mouse and Mole pack paper and crayons and hurry outside. It turns out, birds are not so easy to watch. Together, they come up with a plan to get closer to the birds... a plan that includes glue and feathers.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Friendship, Childrens, Birds, Nature, Fiction

61 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 17, 2009

About the author

I was born in Detroit, Michigan, one of seven. My first grade teacher tacked a drawing of mine, Horse with Feedbag up on the bulletin board. From there I went on to study art at Wayne State University, graduating in 1975 with a BFA in printmaking. I had my fair share of rejections at the start, but through perseverance my first picture book, EEK! There’s a Mouse in the House was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1992. My latest early reader, Mouse and Mole Fine Feathered Friends received a 2010 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award.

Reviews

[Spencer Orey]

A sweet and fun book about two friends working together on a cool art project, praising each other’s strengths and solving problems. My kid laughed a lot, loved the poems and the art, and asked to read it over and over.

More books like this please!

[Ashlee Christians]

This book's audience would be a younger audience between elementary grades to possibly beginning of middle school. Although it was a bit longer than most picture books, there were still plenty of pictures for the reader(s) to look at while they read.

I believe this book is very appealing to its audience because it has a combination of humor, friendship, and problem solving, all combined into one book. I would love to read this to a future class of mine one day because there are so many cross-curricular activities that could go along such as arts and crafts projects and learning about nature and its animals.

This book is from the Goldfinch Award from the state of Iowa.

[Sarah]

Perfect for beginning birders and readers.

[Luján]

No puedo con la ternura, por favor.
Ahora quiero ir a hacer avistaje de aves con algunx amigx, hacer una sesión de dibujo y luego hacer algún librito, por favor que hermosura.

[Jacoba]

Mouse and Mole, Fine Feathered Friends
Genre: Picture book
Format: Book
Plot summary: When spring arrives, Mole and Mouse find a unique way to bird watch
Considerations or precautions for readers advisory (strong language, sex, death, religious overtones, violence, etc.): No special considerations
Review citation (if available):Fleche, Monica School Library Journal , February 2010, Vol. 56 Issue 2, p98-98
Section source used to find the material: Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Nominee (2010), ALA Notable
Recommended age: 1st-4th grade

[Kathy]

Probably good for a beginning reader but my daughter didn't sit through it as a read aloud.

[Brindi Michele]

2010 Geisel Honor

This book bored me....

[Danette]

Features cooperation with friends to get the desired result.
1/16/18 Read with Naomi & Julia

[Julie]

Mouse and Mole go birdwatching because they want to make a bird book, but the birds fly away. They create clever bird costumes to disguise themselves, and they're able to get close to the birds and make some illustrations! They learn the sweet lesson that some people are better at some things; Mole does terrific drawings, and Mouse writes a wonderful little poem about the birds. Another nice book about collaboration and friendship.

[Maria Rowe]

• 2010 Geisel Honor Book •

Sweet, charming book about two friends who love birds. Mouse is good at writing, and Mole is good at drawing. They learn to combine their talents. Great story about friendship, helping others and creativity.

Materials used: “litho pencil and gouache”

Typeface used: “Adobe Caslon”

[Nisa]

My first grader has been reading this book to me this morning and he’s been so engaged by it that we have been going online to look up pictures of every single bird and some of the plants too. This is a wonderful book for young readers!

[Lorellie]

An incredibly charming early chapter book with lots of cute illustrations. Tot and I both enjoyed it. I'll definitely be looking for the others at the library.

[Emily F]

Early chapter book with mild, slow content featuring positive relationships

[Gail]

Cute picture book of friendship, being creative and recognizing strengths.

[Lynn Davidson]

Mouse and Mole loved birdwatching. One windy morning they set out to watch and draw birds for the book they planned to create. This is a chapter book in four short, enjoyable, nicely illustrated chapters: Bird Books; Molebird and Mousebird; The Nest; Some Artist, Some Poet!

[Sharne' Cherry]

1. Controlled Vocabulary Picture book
2. Mouse and Mole embark on an adventure in which they teach skills such as teamwork, brainstorming, and good ideas to their readers. Its chapters tell the story of how Mouse and Mole are able to disguise themselves as birds in order to see them up close enough to draw them.
3.
a. Usage of words
b. The usage of words in this book can be somewhat too much for the reader to understand. A young reader would not be able to read this book alone and understand all of the terminology used in the book. I would recommend this book for grades 2 on up.
c. An example of advanced terminology used in this book would be "binoculars". A younger reader would not know what binoculars were and they wouldn't be able to tell with the illustrations listed on the page neither.
4. I could easily use this book to talk about a segment on birds and bird watching. I think it would be fun to incorporate this literature into a lesson plan on birds to create a fun sense of appeal to the topic.

[Liz]

Mouse and Mole decide to go on a bird watching adventure. Using their creativity, they devise several plans to get extra close to the birds so they can draw their portraits and make their own bird book.

"Mole and Mole, Fine Feathered Friends" is appropriate for ages 5-6 (Grades PreK-K).

This is book is perfect for young children learning to read. Illustrations are paired with words, giving readers a vision representation of what they are reading. Many of the words, phrases, and ideas in the book also repeat, helping readers gain confidence when reading. Although this book is not very long, it is sectioned into 4 separate sections. Again, I think this is done to help beginner readers gain confidence and esteem when learning to read. Children like to feel accomplished and I think this book will do just that.

[Gail Gauthier]

"The book has a Frog and Toad vibe, which is good, though wordier. Fine Feathered Friends is all about Mouse and Mole watching birds. And drawing them. And writing poetry about them. The whole thing.

Over the course of a story about the two friends having to find a way to get close to the birds they want to draw, Mouse and Mole pass off a small amount of avian info. But what really makes this book at all environmental is that Mouse and Mole want to do this bird stuff. They want to draw them and write about them. They want to have a life that involves birds."

Excerpt from Original Content

[Marissa Lubinski]

I thought this book was pretty good. This book is about two friends Mouse and Mole. It's springtime and they want to draw birds. They cannot however because every time they get close to the birds, the birds get scared of them and fly away. Then Mouse had the idea for her and Mole to dress up like birds so the birds would not be scared. Mouse and Mole get to work making bird costumes. They go up in the tree and it actually works. The birds are not afraid of them so they are able to draw them perfectly. Mouse thought Mole's drawings were so good they looked real. Mouse made up a poem for Mole's drawing and together they decided to make a book and called it "Fine Feathered Friends."

[Shannon]

Amazon Book Description:
It is a blustery spring day, and Mouse and Mole are very excited. They are going to go bird watching! They are planning to make bird books! Mouse and Mole pack paper and crayons and hurry outside. It turns out, birds are not so easy to watch. Splashing in puddles scare them away. Stepping on crunchy leaves does too.

Mole rubs his snout. Mouse twirls her tail. Together, they come up with a plan to get closer to the birds. A plan that includes glue and feathers . . .

Join Mouse and Mole on another high-flying adventure in which teamwork, brainstorming, and good ideas always make for a fun day out!

[Meredith]

This picture book features four stories about Mouse and Mole:
• "Bird Books"
• "Molebird and Mousebird"
• "The Nest"
• "Some Artist, Some Poet!"

In "Bird Books," Mouse and Mole go birdwatching but keep scaring the birds.

In “Molebird and Mousebird,” Mouse and Mole make bird costumes.

In “The Nest,” Mouse and Mole build a nest and sketch birds.

In “Some Artist, Some Poet!,” Mouse and Mole compare their sketches and make a bird book.

These are four gentle stories about two woodland animals who are friends. They emphasize friendship, thoughtfulness, problem solving, and consideration for others.

[Nielson]

Mouse and Mole are a delight to read about! In this new adventure of theirs, Spring is just arriving and they decide to go bird watching. They set out with their sketch pad and crayons, ready to draw away! They soon realize that birds are harder to watch than you think! With no luck of sketching any birds, they devise a new plan....they will dress like birds because birds aren't scared of birds! Readers will be enthralled as they watch the transformation of Mouse and Mole into fine feathered friends! The illustrations are fabulous and the detailed text is perfect for those early readers.

[Kira Dickson]

Copyright: 2009
Number of Pages: Unknown
Format:Hardcover
Reading Level:Grades 1-5
Genre: fantasy
Lit requirement: easy to read #2

Summary:
Mouse and Mole are two friends who want to make a book about birds. When spring comes they decide to make it. They try and try but the bird watching is hard. They have to find a way to watch the birds so they could make their books.

Response:
This is an adorable little book that would be entertaining to the children. It shows a good example of friendship and the pictures are beautiful. I would recommend this book.

[Bridget R. Wilson]

It's springtime in the forest. Friends Mouse and Mole are going birding. With the help of a clever disguise, Mouse writes poems about the birds and Mole draws their pictures. They put their creations together in a book.


What I thought: I love the Mouse and Mole books. They remind me a bit of Willems' Elephant & Piggie books but with more words. The illustrations are charming. Friends everywhere will appreciate Mouse and Mole's friendship.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer]

This was a 2010 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award honor book, for easy readers. Its 4 chapters tell the story of how Mouse and Mole disguise themselves as birds in order to see them up close enough to draw them. This book would be good for learning about different birds and what songs they sing, and also for how to collaborate on a book, as Mouse and Mole did. Recommended for beginning readers, budding authors, and birdwatchers.

[Gwen the Librarian]

Mouse and Mole are very sweet characters, reminiscent of Frog and Toad. In this story, they want to draw birds and must find a way to not scare the birds off. Then they must come to terms with their own unique talents. These readers are at the higher level, for kids who are almost ready for chapters.

[Andrea]

2010 Geisel Honor Book. Nice story for beginning readers about bird-watching. Introduces names of birds and their songs, where birds live and how they build nests, names of plants, other good outdoorsy stuff. Mouse and Mole have a nice, warm friendship, and this book builds in some gentle lessons about collaboration and appreciating the talents of others.

[Mrs.]

I am not sure who would really like this book in my current population of students. It is a cute read but at times it seemed to have words that were beyond a beginning reader. The book has a cute story plot, cute problem solving theme of working together for a good solution in the end. Geisel Honor

[Randie D. Camp, M.S.]

Mouse and Mole share a few bird-themed adventures in this early reader. They bird watch with binoculars (pine-cones are birds, right?), they make "feathered" clothing, draw pictures of birds, and write poems about birds. They even do some collaboration and create a bird book. The illustrations are engaging, detailed and compliment the lengthy, sometimes long-winded text.

[Alexandria Shafer]

I thought that this was a very cute book it is a good book that shows friendship and determination. I feel that it would be a good book if you are going to read it to a younger child, but would be more suited to a second or third grade reading level just due to the length of he book and the complexity of some of the words.