The Church Mice In Action

The Church Mice #8

by Graham Oakley

The church mice enter Samson in a cat show to win money to fix the church roof, but in doing so, they unknowingly put him in danger.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Cats, Adventure, Animals, Fiction

36 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Graham Oakley is a children's book author and illustrator, most active during the 1960s to 1980s. He is best known for the Church Mice series and also illustrated many book covers in the 60s.

For the current UK author of children's books at Top That! press see Graham Oakley.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another wonderful adventure of Sampson the mouse loving cat and his mouse friends. In this story we see the mice come up with a cunning plan to raise money for the leaky church roof. Sampson is entered for a cat show that has a cash prize and the mice turn up at the show to distract the other cat contestants leaving Sampson the clear winner as he doesn't react to the chaos of a hoard of mice turning up at a cat show

This story was very funny and the characters so endearing! As always with this series, so much attention has been paid to detail and so many illustrations on each page. The stories are engaging and full of humour, wonderfully entertaining for both adult and child!

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Humphrey and Arthur are at it again in The Church Mice in Action, the eighth installment of Graham Oakley's series of humorous picture-books detailing the adventures and misadventures of a group of church mice and their cat companion. Determined to solve the problem of the leaking vestry roof once and for all, Humphrey proposes that the mice enter Sampson in a cat competition, and make sure that he wins. Needless to say, hilarious hi-jinks ensue, and all does not go precisely as planned...

This may be the funniest book in Oakley's series, with Sampson's horrified reaction to the parson's sister, with her baby-talk ("Whoooose a boooooooooooooooooooootiful puddy tat den. Come to mummmmmy") and magnolia-scented baths, and Humphrey's "unsporting" plan to throw the competition. With the notable exception of The Church Mice at Bay , I have found the Church Mice books quite entertaining, and am sorry to see this diversion come to an end. There are a few more in the series, but I have been unable to locate them in my library system. Ah well, it was lovely while it lasted!

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these books! The clever stories keep adults amused while children and adults alike are fascinated by the wonderful illustrations. I must get hold of the remaining few to complete my collection!

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

The church mice led by Humphrey devise a plan to raise money to fix the leaking church roof by entering Sampson the church cat into cat shows. Their plan is working until two bandits decide to snatch Sampson, and hold him for ransom for all the winnings. Now Humphrey and the church mice must rescue Sampson before he is harmed.

[Ange · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of a series by Graham Oakley, some of which I've enjoyed more than others. This one has some nice humorous touches and the illustrations are great (with the exception of the kidnappers and the vicar's sister, who are just plain unfortunate looking!). However the story is nothing special and the writing is a bit basic.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable series that has enough overlapping characters from book to book, without requiring you to read the series in order. Detailed illustrations that add humor to the story for the adult reader.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good, humorous storyline and fabulous illustrations.

[Muireann · Rating 4 out of 5]

More excellent church mice fun.

[Webcowgirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comedy gold

[Viviana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Art 4-5 stars

[LJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Number 8 in the Church Mice series is not one I had as a kid, so I don't have the same emotional connection to it, but it is still another piece of brilliance. This time the mice decide to rig cat competitions to earn money to fix the roof, only to be thwarted when Sampson is kidnapped. This one has a pretty blatant moral 'crime doesn't pay' which is unusual. Previously, though bad things happen to Sampson and the mice because of hubris, it is also just because they are extremely unlucky losers. It felt a bit weird to have a proper morality tale here. However, I was again lost in the beautiful, detailed pictures, giggling and awwing in delight and as usual there is masterful interplay between text and art. There has been a change between this book and the previous seven though because now the text is printed over the pictures. I don't particularly like this change. Firstly it is harder to read the text and secondly the pictures sort of fade out into just background colours, instead of being wall-to-wall detail. You're not actually losing anything, since this would just be white space previously, but it gives the illusion of losing something. So, odd choice. My edition is a 90s reprint so it has one of those covers that loses the back cover art. I hate that they did that.

[Books Kids Like · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sampson the church cat and all of the church mice are enjoying a lazy afternoon in the garden. Suddenly, the vicar's sister sees Sampson and whisks him off to the vicarage. She bathes and perfumes him and bedecks him with a ribbon. Now that Sampson is so beautiful the mice decide he should be entered in a cat show. They figure the prize money can be used to fix the vicarage's roof. Humphrey writes a letter to the vicar's sister, and she promptly enters Sampson in the contest. The mice insure that he wins by hiding in the judge's coat. Their presence there makes all of the cats, except Samson, behave abominably. Samson wins first prize. He is entered in other contests and wins a total of ten pounds in prize money. Two men decide to capitalize on Sampson success and kidnap him. They hold him for ten pounds ransom. Humphrey and Arthur foil the kidnapper's plan by stealing the ten pound note and helping Samson escape. After Samson gets home the vicar's sister leaves, and things get back to normal.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another hilarious story of Sampson and the church mice. Arthur and Humphrey are once again making plans to add to the vestry roof restoration fund. This time, as the vicar's sister is visiting and has groomed Sampson to within an inch of his life, they reckon that he should be a cinch to win lucrative prizes at cat shows - and of course they do their best to make sure that he does. This backfires, as most of what he wins is exciting stuff like cat litter and flea powder, but the local paper makes it sound as though he has made millions, so a couple of local baddies kidnap him. Nothing is ever straightforward for the church mice and Sampson! The pictures are gloriously funny, as usual.

[Eyehavenofilter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The leaky roof needs repair so Sampson enters a cat contest. You know things will to awry as they always do with this cast of furry characters, that's what makes these books so much fun to read and oogle over.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Max and I both enjoyed this book. I'll have to find more by this author although I think some of his books may be out of print.

[Alina White]

Re-read September 2015.

[Liston Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was getting a bit old for picture books, but the illustrations for too captivating to ignore.