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Thursday
HERE COMES THURSDAY!
Book by Bond, Michael
136 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
22 people want to read
About the author
Michael Bond
607 books408 followersMichael Bond, CBE was an English children's author. He was the creator of Paddington Bear and wrote about the adventures of a guinea pig named Olga da Polga, as well as the animated BBC TV series The Herbs. Bond also wrote culinary mystery stories for adults featuring Monsieur Pamplemousse and his faithful bloodhound, Pommes Frites.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 6, 2019
Michael Bond is an award-winning author, famous for his stories about Paddington Bear, who first made his appearance in 1958. Nearly everyone has heard of Paddington Bear, named after the station where he was found by Mr. and Mrs. Brown, when he arrived in London from Peru. But Michael Bond wrote many other children’s stories with memorable characters. Do you recognise any of these?
How about one of my personal favourites, the adorable guinea pig, Olga da Polga: an imaginative guinea pig, who loves telling wildly exaggerated tales about her experiences to her friends? Or what about Parsley the lion, or even Pommes Frites, a dog who accompanies his master in the “Monsieur ” series? Then we come to a mouse called “Thursday”, and learn how he came by such an unusual name.
We first meet “Thursday” in Here Comes Thursday, which was first published in 1966, six years after the first “Paddington” book. The book has charming illustrations by Daphne Rowles, whose interspersed black and white drawings are very detailed and lively. When we first meet Thursday he is spotted by Mr. Peck, as an unidentified flying object, floating in the air towards the organ loft cupboard of St. Mary’s in the Valley. None of the resident family of mice can identify this mystery object in the sky, and are worried that it may be something sinister. But Grandpa Aristide points out that it is a balloon, and has a label and a bag tied to its side. They manage to guide the balloon into their cupboard, and discover the inhabitant of the bag, a young mouse “lying there with its eyes closed and its paws across its chest.” The young mouse is startled to wake up, and find himself surrounded by the Peck family.
There are Mr. and Mrs. Peck, who live in the cupboard with their 19 children, as well as Grandpa Aristide, Uncle Washington and Uncle Ponty. All the characters in this book have wonderful quirky names, just like “Paddington” did. There is Aristotle, Blaze, Cadwaller, Desdemona, Ethel, Francesca, Gaston, Hildegard, Iolanthe, Justin, Kean, Ludovic, Mordecat, Napoleon, Osborn, Peregrine, Quentin, Rowena and Sylvester. (You my have noticed a theme here…) When asked his name, the stranger replies “1397869”.
Everyone is bemused by this strange boring name, until he explains that he has escaped from the Home for Waif-mice and Stray-mice. He is an orphan, who was found on a doorstep. Clearly he is a mouse of some imagination and courage, because he escaped by digging a hole under the fence. He then hitched a lift in a Grumbly’s (the mouse word for a human being) lorry to the Fair, where he enjoyed himself on the rides, before tying his bag onto a balloon and taking to the air, when the balloon was released as part of a balloon race.
The resident mice are most impressed, and decide that Mouse number 1397869 deserves a better name. Mrs Peck announces that his must begin with ‘T’ to fit in with her alphabetical system. The family ponder on this, and when they are getting ready for bed when suddenly Grandpa Aristide booms out “Thursday! A very good name. Don’t know why no one thought of it before” (since the day was Thursday, and it began with the letter ‘T’. Henceforth mouse number 1397869 would become known as “Thursday” and an HON. CUB. (TEMP.), meaning he would be an Honorary Cupboardosity (Temporary).
In nine entertaining chapters, we watch as Thursday stays and take part in the adventures of his fellow Cupboardosities - and creates a good few of his own. All the other resident mice encourage and welcome him, and Thursday soon settles into a happy new life with the Peck family.
Thursday helps out with Mr Peck’s traditional “Exchange and Mart Store” by delivering orders, polishing the counter, and spreading sawdust on the floor. It is an old fashioned store where the goods are laid out on different counters, and customers are served by the staff. Whilst out delivering groceries to customers who wish this service, Thursday meets a short sighted vole called “Harris” who lives by the river in an untidy, cluttered house. Thursday enjoys the time he spends with Harris, and the two soon become firm friends. They spend time fishing (although they don’t seem to catch anything very often), talking or simply lying in the grass watching the world go by.
These parts of the book are very reminiscent of Mole and Ratty in “The Wind in the Willows”. It is like a tribute to the great children’s classic by Kenneth Grahame. Harris remarks wisely, one day, that “The quieter you are the more you hear” - an observation which is worthy of Ratty himself. He adds that one day he counted 156 sounds. Thursday is most impressed, as Harris goes on to list the different insects, animals, birds and other noises that can be heard if you listen carefully.
Another chapter is about Mr. Peck’s Exchange and Mart Delicatessen, which had been “established a very long time”. It is a popular, thriving business selling cheese, pate, berries, vegetables and many other tasty treats. Mr Peck is very proud of his family business, as are all those who work there. But Cousin Howard P. Corncrake from America comes to stay, and tells his all about his wonderful country back home. He puts fancy modern ideas into Mr Peck’s head. In fact all the family is very impressed with Howard, except for Mrs Peck, who has “a nasty feeling about it in the back of her mind”.
Anxious to impress Cousin Howard, Thursday takes him down to the store to show off the shop he considers so wonderful. But in doing this. Thursday unwittingly causes the demise of the grand business. Cousin Howard can’t believe his eye, and thinks it is like something out of the Middle Ages! He proceeds to tell Thursday all about the modern “Self Service” stores they have in the USA. He boasts about a cheese baron, “Al the Smell”, who now owns half the mouse cheese supermarkets in New York, and is rich enough to spend most of his time lying beside the pool. All the cheese is wrapped, for convenience and speed, and not cut to each customer’s request. The star-struck family are dazzled by the prospects, and easily persuaded to refurbish their lovely old store, to become a self service shop, where all the goods are pre-cut and packaged.
The great day arrives, and all their regular customers - plus quite a few new ones - stampede through the newly refurbished shop, which is quickly depleted of all the new stock. To the family’s great consternation, nobody has paid a penny! Grandpa arrives to see how they are getting on, and pertinently asks, “What’s the use of having a ‘Help Yourself Store’, if you have nothing to help yourself to?”
They take a look at the notice, which Thursday has written for the outside of the shop, and discover the awful truth. It announces simply:
“GRAND OPENING
TONIGHT
FIRST TIME EVER
MR PECK’S HELP YOURSELF SUPER MART“
Nothing about payment. No wonder the crowds could hardly wait to sample the new type of shopping!
Cousin Howard, meanwhile has gone off on his travels to see the rest of Europe, leaving poor Thursday feeling guilty and really upset, and the rest of the mouse family thoroughly depressed. However, everything turns out well in the end, even with this seemingly disastrous episode. The whole family knuckle down, to bring the shop lovingly back to as it was before, with counters to polish and sawdust on the floor and everything just as it should be, and importantly, no “Self Service”! Everyone is happy again and because he has saved the day Thursday is no longer HON. CUB. (TEMP.) but awarded a First Class Cupboardosity!
All the episodes are whimsically humorous, and conjure up an earlier time: that of “Golden Age” children’s classics, with a touch of magic, and plenty of delightful anthropomorphising. Thursday is a lovely portrayal of a young mouse, eager to explore life, overjoyed to find he now has a family, and friends, and who is keen to work hard to help them and make them proud. He is curious about everything he sees, and adventurous enough to try almost anything!
I especially loved the part where this impressionable young mouse finds a . But he picks it up with shining eyes, and is convinced it will bring them all good luck. Also hugely enjoyable is the story in which
It’s a great read, and if you have a special yen for these old fashioned types of children’s books, you may consider it a 4 star book. Perhaps though, well written as it is, it is slightly derivative, so I shall place it at 3 stars, with the additional remark that I personally found it hugely entertaining. The suggested reading age for this book is 7 to 11 years of age.
There are more of Thursday’s entertaining adventures in three further books:
“Thursday Rides Again”,“Thursday Ahoy!”,“Thursday in Paris” and an omnibus, “A mouse called Thursday”.
Well worth a look!
How about one of my personal favourites, the adorable guinea pig, Olga da Polga: an imaginative guinea pig, who loves telling wildly exaggerated tales about her experiences to her friends? Or what about Parsley the lion, or even Pommes Frites, a dog who accompanies his master in the “Monsieur ” series? Then we come to a mouse called “Thursday”, and learn how he came by such an unusual name.
We first meet “Thursday” in Here Comes Thursday, which was first published in 1966, six years after the first “Paddington” book. The book has charming illustrations by Daphne Rowles, whose interspersed black and white drawings are very detailed and lively. When we first meet Thursday he is spotted by Mr. Peck, as an unidentified flying object, floating in the air towards the organ loft cupboard of St. Mary’s in the Valley. None of the resident family of mice can identify this mystery object in the sky, and are worried that it may be something sinister. But Grandpa Aristide points out that it is a balloon, and has a label and a bag tied to its side. They manage to guide the balloon into their cupboard, and discover the inhabitant of the bag, a young mouse “lying there with its eyes closed and its paws across its chest.” The young mouse is startled to wake up, and find himself surrounded by the Peck family.
There are Mr. and Mrs. Peck, who live in the cupboard with their 19 children, as well as Grandpa Aristide, Uncle Washington and Uncle Ponty. All the characters in this book have wonderful quirky names, just like “Paddington” did. There is Aristotle, Blaze, Cadwaller, Desdemona, Ethel, Francesca, Gaston, Hildegard, Iolanthe, Justin, Kean, Ludovic, Mordecat, Napoleon, Osborn, Peregrine, Quentin, Rowena and Sylvester. (You my have noticed a theme here…) When asked his name, the stranger replies “1397869”.
Everyone is bemused by this strange boring name, until he explains that he has escaped from the Home for Waif-mice and Stray-mice. He is an orphan, who was found on a doorstep. Clearly he is a mouse of some imagination and courage, because he escaped by digging a hole under the fence. He then hitched a lift in a Grumbly’s (the mouse word for a human being) lorry to the Fair, where he enjoyed himself on the rides, before tying his bag onto a balloon and taking to the air, when the balloon was released as part of a balloon race.
The resident mice are most impressed, and decide that Mouse number 1397869 deserves a better name. Mrs Peck announces that his must begin with ‘T’ to fit in with her alphabetical system. The family ponder on this, and when they are getting ready for bed when suddenly Grandpa Aristide booms out “Thursday! A very good name. Don’t know why no one thought of it before” (since the day was Thursday, and it began with the letter ‘T’. Henceforth mouse number 1397869 would become known as “Thursday” and an HON. CUB. (TEMP.), meaning he would be an Honorary Cupboardosity (Temporary).
In nine entertaining chapters, we watch as Thursday stays and take part in the adventures of his fellow Cupboardosities - and creates a good few of his own. All the other resident mice encourage and welcome him, and Thursday soon settles into a happy new life with the Peck family.
Thursday helps out with Mr Peck’s traditional “Exchange and Mart Store” by delivering orders, polishing the counter, and spreading sawdust on the floor. It is an old fashioned store where the goods are laid out on different counters, and customers are served by the staff. Whilst out delivering groceries to customers who wish this service, Thursday meets a short sighted vole called “Harris” who lives by the river in an untidy, cluttered house. Thursday enjoys the time he spends with Harris, and the two soon become firm friends. They spend time fishing (although they don’t seem to catch anything very often), talking or simply lying in the grass watching the world go by.
These parts of the book are very reminiscent of Mole and Ratty in “The Wind in the Willows”. It is like a tribute to the great children’s classic by Kenneth Grahame. Harris remarks wisely, one day, that “The quieter you are the more you hear” - an observation which is worthy of Ratty himself. He adds that one day he counted 156 sounds. Thursday is most impressed, as Harris goes on to list the different insects, animals, birds and other noises that can be heard if you listen carefully.
Another chapter is about Mr. Peck’s Exchange and Mart Delicatessen, which had been “established a very long time”. It is a popular, thriving business selling cheese, pate, berries, vegetables and many other tasty treats. Mr Peck is very proud of his family business, as are all those who work there. But Cousin Howard P. Corncrake from America comes to stay, and tells his all about his wonderful country back home. He puts fancy modern ideas into Mr Peck’s head. In fact all the family is very impressed with Howard, except for Mrs Peck, who has “a nasty feeling about it in the back of her mind”.
Anxious to impress Cousin Howard, Thursday takes him down to the store to show off the shop he considers so wonderful. But in doing this. Thursday unwittingly causes the demise of the grand business. Cousin Howard can’t believe his eye, and thinks it is like something out of the Middle Ages! He proceeds to tell Thursday all about the modern “Self Service” stores they have in the USA. He boasts about a cheese baron, “Al the Smell”, who now owns half the mouse cheese supermarkets in New York, and is rich enough to spend most of his time lying beside the pool. All the cheese is wrapped, for convenience and speed, and not cut to each customer’s request. The star-struck family are dazzled by the prospects, and easily persuaded to refurbish their lovely old store, to become a self service shop, where all the goods are pre-cut and packaged.
The great day arrives, and all their regular customers - plus quite a few new ones - stampede through the newly refurbished shop, which is quickly depleted of all the new stock. To the family’s great consternation, nobody has paid a penny! Grandpa arrives to see how they are getting on, and pertinently asks, “What’s the use of having a ‘Help Yourself Store’, if you have nothing to help yourself to?”
They take a look at the notice, which Thursday has written for the outside of the shop, and discover the awful truth. It announces simply:
“GRAND OPENING
TONIGHT
FIRST TIME EVER
MR PECK’S HELP YOURSELF SUPER MART“
Nothing about payment. No wonder the crowds could hardly wait to sample the new type of shopping!
Cousin Howard, meanwhile has gone off on his travels to see the rest of Europe, leaving poor Thursday feeling guilty and really upset, and the rest of the mouse family thoroughly depressed. However, everything turns out well in the end, even with this seemingly disastrous episode. The whole family knuckle down, to bring the shop lovingly back to as it was before, with counters to polish and sawdust on the floor and everything just as it should be, and importantly, no “Self Service”! Everyone is happy again and because he has saved the day Thursday is no longer HON. CUB. (TEMP.) but awarded a First Class Cupboardosity!
All the episodes are whimsically humorous, and conjure up an earlier time: that of “Golden Age” children’s classics, with a touch of magic, and plenty of delightful anthropomorphising. Thursday is a lovely portrayal of a young mouse, eager to explore life, overjoyed to find he now has a family, and friends, and who is keen to work hard to help them and make them proud. He is curious about everything he sees, and adventurous enough to try almost anything!
I especially loved the part where this impressionable young mouse finds a . But he picks it up with shining eyes, and is convinced it will bring them all good luck. Also hugely enjoyable is the story in which
It’s a great read, and if you have a special yen for these old fashioned types of children’s books, you may consider it a 4 star book. Perhaps though, well written as it is, it is slightly derivative, so I shall place it at 3 stars, with the additional remark that I personally found it hugely entertaining. The suggested reading age for this book is 7 to 11 years of age.
There are more of Thursday’s entertaining adventures in three further books:
“Thursday Rides Again”,“Thursday Ahoy!”,“Thursday in Paris” and an omnibus, “A mouse called Thursday”.
Well worth a look!
dnf
January 7, 2023Dnf. The voice acting on my audiobook got annoying.
January 22, 2025
Incredibly charming and lovely. One of those books that give you a mental hug. From the author of Paddington.
October 31, 2025
A very sweet and fast paced book. The characters were all very loveable and the world of the mice was enjoyable to explore. The story was full of wholesome and amusing little adventures. A very nice story about family and welcoming others. Gave Moomin vibes, probably from the sweetness of the characters and their kindness at welcoming strangers. A lovely book.
April 28, 2008
This was a sweet little book by the author of the Paddington Bear books. Maybe a little too sweet and predictable, but good for a younger audience.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews