Mouse Box Set: The Mouse and the Motorcycle / Ralph S. Mouse / Runaway Ralph / Strider

Ralph S. Mouse #1-3

by Beverly Cleary

This wonderful Mouse Box Set, by Beverly Cleary, contains four books: The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Ralph S Mouse, Runaway Ralph, and Strider.The Mouse and the Motorcycle

Ralph only wanted to ride the mouse-sized motorcycle someone had left on the table in the hotel room where Ralph lived. Instead, both Ralph and the motorcycle take a terrible fall into the wastepaper basket, where they are trapped until Keith, the owner of the motorcycle, rescues them. Keith teaches Ralph to ride the motorcycle, and the two of them soon find out that adventures can be both fun and dangerous!Ralph S. Mouse

When Ralph's home at the Mountain View Inn is over-run by rowdy mice who want to use his red motorcycle, he packs up his prized machine and moves to a new home — inside Irwin J. Sneed Elementary School! Runaway Ralph

Ralph has made up his mind — he is going to run away. Envisioning fun, freedom, and delicious crumbs from peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, he hops on his red bike and zooms away to the summer camp down the road. Once he arrives, he runs headlong into a strict watchdog, a mouse-hungry cat, and even more fur-raising escapades. Suddenly home doesn't seem like a bad place to be. Strider

In the sequel to the Newbery winner Dear Mr. Henshaw, Leigh Botts is down in the dumps. His parents have divorced and his dog has run away, and it doesn't look as if things could get any worse. But Leigh's life takes a turn for the better when he adopts a stray dog named Strider.

Genres: Childrens, Audiobook, Fiction, Kids, Fantasy, Animals, Juvenile

Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Beverly Atlee Cleary was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction. One of America's most successful authors, 91 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide since her first book was published in 1950. Some of her best known characters are Ramona Quimby and Beezus Quimby, Henry Huggins and his dog Ribsy, and Ralph S. Mouse.
The majority of Cleary's books are set in the Grant Park neighborhood of northeast Portland, Oregon, where she was raised, and she has been credited as one of the first authors of children's literature to figure emotional realism in the narratives of her characters, often children in middle-class families. Her first children's book was Henry Huggins after a question from a kid when Cleary was a librarian. Cleary won the 1981 National Book Award for Ramona and Her Mother and the 1984 Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw. For her lifetime contributions to American literature, she received the National Medal of Arts, recognition as a Library of Congress Living Legend, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the Association for Library Service to Children. The Beverly Cleary School, a public school in Portland, was named after her, and several statues of her most famous characters were erected in Grant Park in 1995. Cleary died on March 25, 2021, at the age of 104.

Reviews

[Jami Balmet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun stories to listen to with our boys! The 6 year olds loved them 😍 The narrator for these books is excellent!

(I don’t normally count kids books in my reading challenge for the year! But this audio collection contains all 3 of the mouse and the motorcycle books and was 6 hours and 41 minutes. So we are counting all 3 together as 1 book ;) since we listened to them all together on a road trip)!

[Jenny Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty fun series, though it is a bit simplistic at times. Ralph can be a bit much, but overall it's a good time killer. I could see an elementary kid really enjoying this, as I did when I was in about 2nd grade. This includes The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Runaway Ralph and Ralph S. Mouse.

The Mouse and the Motorcycle
An adventure tale, with some growth for Ralph by the end. It's made to seem high stakes, but really does not read so much like that now. The descriptions of the mice world are pretty well done, and do feel realistic.

Runaway Ralph
Ralph is spoiled in this a bit. He regresses until he actually gets to camp. I would have liked to see more of the golden hamster as well. Overall, as with the first, a pretty fun adventure story with the stakes more for Ralph than anyone else.

Ralph S. Mouse
Ralph has good intentions, and does learn in this one. I do like the way there are different humans in each book, as that is true to a hotel for sure.
All three are written simply enough for a young reader to easily read them, and they may make a good introduction to chapter books.
This is narrirated by B.D Wong and he does a pretty good job, though some of the female voices are annoying, particularly Ralph's mother.

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The audio collection consists of all three stories, all of them are totally adorable!
As a kid, I didn't have interest in reading, so I missed many good children's stories. They are fun to listen to, while doing normal work and house things.
Mouse and the Motorcycle
Ralph S. Mouse
Runaway Ralph
I love the imagination that went into these stories. His elevator hack was the ultimate! It fun how the Ralph helps kids and kids help him. The hamster was awesome also! Bring out your inner kid and enjoy these stories!

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read The Mouse and the Motercycle many many times.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

They don't come any better than this when you are nine.

[Aimee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook! Just as delightful as I remembered! Beverly Clearly's 103rd birthday recently passed and I decided to listen to a few of the books that I loved as a child again. It was extremely enjoyable. Highly recommend!

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun book! I loved the adventures of Ralph S Mouse.

[Jessica Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an entertaining book series! They are so well written and the narrator, B.D. Wong, does an outstanding job in bringing all the characters to life. My 6-year old loves to listen to them over and over again. And because they are so well-written and well-performed, us grown-ups enjoy them, too.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read so much of Beverly Cleary, including autobiography, YA novels, all of Henry, Ramona, Ellen Tebbits, Otis, and one of my favorites, Mitch and Amy. Never picked up any of the Ralph Mouse stories.

Good fun. A few faint echoes of Stuart Little.

I needed a light read and this did not disappoint. And B. D. Wong as narrator was perfect!

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I remembered this book vaguely from childhood but upon rereading I found it just plain creepy.

If you're looking for a book about mice check out The mouse with the ? Tail by Richard Peck It is not creepy.

I still like the Henry Huggins series by Beverly cleary and Ramona's okay.

[Toni J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

this series is so fantastic. it grabs you and lets your imagination soar. Read this series.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revisting childhood favorites. This set of books is still great.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read all three with Luke. He loved them.

[Camady · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my very favorite books of my whole life.

[Sarah Jewett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable. Rereading with my 5 year old and it's still cute. The reader in the audio is amusing and makes my child giggle.

[Gable Roth · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are fun books. Short and sweet even with all three of them together. Ralph goes on many adventures including camp and school. Fun books to stimulate a child's imagination.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing lives up to Ramona. I don't even know why we try at this point.

[Carlos Llanos · Rating 4 out of 5]

We live in our own fishbowl

[Catwall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Children's literature, chapter books - Reading level 3rd grade, interest level 2nd grade+. Adventures of a little mouse, Ralph, in this trilogy. Very good read alouds.
The Mouse and the Motorcycle © 1965
Runaway Ralph © 1970
Ralph S. Mouse © 1982

[Kristiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of “stupid” and other minor language. I’d recommend waiting until 3rd grade or so.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

M. and I listened through this series immediately after the Ramona series. Ralph is pretty disrespectful and has some entitlement... a 'tude, which is certainly consistent to his character across all three books but it made him less lovable for me. The image of him putting around on a motorcycle is still adorable and I do appreciate some of the sweet human characters that persist across the series like Matt at the hotel and the adaptable, quick-on-her feet teacher in the third one. Clearly certainly has a different audience in mind with these books, but they lacked the level of tender, wise depth that I enjoyed so much in the Ramona series that it was hard not to be a little disappointed. But! M. still enjoyed it and we're now moving onto the Henry Huggins series.

[Eric]

I am reading Runaway Ralph and the autors name is Beverly Cleary the book is about a mouse driving a motor cycle in a big hotel where his mother and his grandfather lives. I like the story because I like mice and motorcycles. It reminds me of Geronimo Stilton because his sister drives a motorcycle and his a mouse. Ralph was going to camp with his motorcycle and lots of people made him so angry he went out of camp. I went to a March Break camp just like Ralph except withou a motorcycle. I liked it because we got to bring Pokemon cards.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had so much fun listing to this set of books. Beverly Cleary is an old favorite. I read a lot of her books as a child, although to be honest I have never read the mouse/motorcycle ones. I am strongly considering getting the Henry Higgins set of audio books as well as the Ramona ones. Listening to these provides light amusement and reminds me why I like them as a kid, and the benefits that they provide. Who knows, I may even get Ellen Tebbits. Mindless listening to offset murder and gore is sometimes called for :-)

[LEXI:) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Clearly and I really injoyed it. Its about this mouse who has a motorcycle. And his human friend takes him to school and wants him to run this race but he dosen't want to. And his motorcycle gets broken but at the end he gets a new vehical a car!

[Jocelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is funny,it is about A mouse, a motorcycle and boy named Garf. The mouse rides the motorcycle to the Mountain View Inn and gets in trouble and has fun. He is fiends with a hamster. I like this book a lot.If you have this book at home, READ IT!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun book on CD we listened to. Have only listened to the first book, Runaway Ralph. We'll have to see if the library has the other two books. My 3 year old especially liked the motorcycle sounds!

[Elizabeth]

William Age 8 -- 4 1/2 stars -- didn't like the first part when they moved into the hotel, but really started liking it when the mouse started riding the motorcycle.

Henry -- off the charts. Wants to give more than 5 stars. "it was much more better than the BFG"

[Josh Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

These were my favorite books when I was a kid and I found them just as enjoyable today. My only real complaint was thatbthe collection from Audible puts them out of order with what should be the last book in the second position.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

My son loved this but I wasn't as eager to listen to this every night. With that said, it's a classic and really fun. I only gave it a 3 because I wasn't as into it as he was. But it's probably worthy of a 4 star review :)

[Marlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and fun and simple stories. Not as great as some children’s series, but it seems as if it could be real rather than imaginary. I’m sure this would appeal to many animal loving children, though my children weren’t really drawn to it.