Mouse & Mole: And the All-Weather Train Ride

by Doug Cushman

Lovable Mouse and Mole return and take a train ride across the country. On the way, the two friends encounter all kinds of weather, both from inside the train and as they explore their surroundings during stopovers. The story is enhanced by the border at the bottom of every page, which explains the science behind rain, wind, lightning, thunder, and snow. Full color.

Genres: Science, Picture Books, Nature, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Doug Cushman has illustrated more than 100 children’s books, 20 or so of which he has also written. Among his many honors, Doug has gained a place on the New York Times Children’s Best Sellers list and on the 2003 Children’s Literature Choice list. He has received a National Cartoonist’s Society Reuben award and a 2004 Christopher Award for his book illustrations.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mouse and Mole are friends that are embarking on a train trip! Rather than a set destination, the two buddies travel through various types of weather! They start in rain and right underneath their story, there are diagrams explaining how that type of weather works! The story itself talks about the train ride and how the two keep themselves entertained while the charts underneath again talk about the weather they are seeing outside the window!

The illustrations are colorful, detailed, and depict the weather scenes very nicely.

This book would be great for science lessons about climate! The book talks about rain, thunder, clouds, rainbows, wind, tornados, hurricanes, fog, weather on the moon, snow, deserts, greenhouse gases, and much more! It was simply amazing to see how a story and the nonfiction facts could be intertwined in such an engaging book!

I would definitely use this book in an upper level elementary class to introduce climate or spark discussion about weather and weather patterns!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

32 months - an oddly compiled book with a story about a journey through different types of weather. Along the bottom of each page is a more scientific (?) explanation of how different weather phenomenon come about. It's a nice attempt at using a picture book to explain concepts but doesn't really do it effectively, some parts work better than others. However, I have to say O did get a lot out of this read and kept asking me to read the bottom of the page. We gained many little weather facts.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting tale of a journey for a Mouse and a Mole. Along the way, they encounter many weather phenomena. And at the bottom of each page, there is a brief scientific explanation for said phenomena. It's a unique way to teach about weather, although I did find that it interrupted the flow of the story to read each blurb. Otherwise, it was a fun story and we all got a good refresher on weather basics.