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Around the House the Fox Chased the Mouse: A Prepositional Tale

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<!-- .pd-content1 { left; } .pd-img1 { left; 60px; } .pd-img2 { left; 0px; 10px;} .pd-headline1 { #CC6600; 1.25em; } .pd-headline2 { #CC6600; medium} .pd-text2 { 700;} .pd-text3 { italic; x-large;} --> Teaching Is More Effective When Kids Are Having Fun! This frolicking adventure teaches children about prepositions as they follow a very focused fox in his chase for a mischievous mouse. Kids will love learning what a preposition is and how it can connect words together when they see the fox chase the mouse around the house, under the fence, into the barn, out the window, and even through the chicken coop. Using additional learning activities at the end of the book, children can then apply what they've learned. Around the House, the Fox Chased the Mouse is an installment in Rick Walton's award-winning language arts series, which has sold over 150,000 copies. Kids will adore his silly stories, colorful and funny illustrations, and witty wordplay, while teachers and parents will love the definitions and learning activities provided! Check out Rick's other Rick Walton is the author of more than sixty children's books. Rick's Language Arts series has sold more than 150,000 copies. His books have been featured on the IRA Children's Choice list, Reading Rainbow, and CBS This Morning.

32 pages, Hardcover

First published July 14, 2006

1 person is currently reading
96 people want to read

About the author

Rick Walton

110 books50 followers
Born and raised in Utah, Walton is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon Church. He served as a missionary to Brazil from 1976 to 1978, soon after he graduated from high school. Later, at Brigham Young University, he became president of the Brazil Club. In 1980, he graduated from Brigham Young with a bachelor's degree in Spanish and a minor in Portuguese, the language spoken in Brazil.

Walton's education continued after he obtained his degree. In 1980, he went back to Brigham Young for one semester of graduate work in business, but chose not to follow that career path. Deciding to become a teacher, he earned certification in elementary education from Brigham Young in 1987, as well as certification to teach gifted and talented students. Up to that point, he had held a number of jobs, including a year with the parks and recreation department of Provo, Utah. In 1987, he began teaching sixth grade at a local public school, then switched to a private school.

Also interested in computers, Walton would later publish several items of software. He left teaching to accept a position as software designer for IBM in 1989. In 1994, he turned to freelance software design and writing. He also returned to Brigham Young University once again, this time to earn his master's degree in English, with an emphasis on creative writing.

Walton's wife, Ann, with whom he has written many of his books, is a computer programmer. They were married in 1983, and have five children. With Dumb Clucks! and Something's Fishy! in 1987, the Waltons began writing books.

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5 stars
25 (24%)
4 stars
46 (45%)
3 stars
23 (22%)
2 stars
4 (3%)
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3 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
14 reviews
April 16, 2013
I would use this book to teach prepositions. It is such a cute book that will make teaching this writing tool in a fun way. I would also do a mini writers workshop lesson for this. I will have the students make little foxes and mice then have them place them in different areas around the class. Once they did that they would have to write different sentences about where and how they found the foxes and mice in the class, using prepositional phrases.
Profile Image for Erin.
810 reviews34 followers
April 5, 2019
This works well as a funny storytime book for preschoolers, but if I were still teaching English, I'd also use it as a fun way to explain prepositions to my high school students.
Profile Image for Allison Greg.
210 reviews6 followers
May 24, 2021
Very cute book to help kids learn prepositions. It's easy to read and the illustrations are very cute and bright and fun. I have two little boys (6 yo and 3 yo) and they loved this one.
21 reviews
September 27, 2012
This is a good book for children to teach them about where things are. This story is about a fox that is chasing a mouse up, down, besides, in, out, over many things. When I started to read it I thought that the fox wanted to eat the mouse and I thought it was not a good book for children. When I got to the end I had changed my mind and was happy that they were playing tag. Now the mouse is going to go through the same places the fox went but backwards because the fox tagged him after going over the rocks and now the mouse was going over the rock to get the fox.
Profile Image for JaNeal.
244 reviews
February 22, 2012
This is a great book to expose your child to prepositions in a game-like way. Prepositions are so important in understanding sentence structure that I bribe my older kids to learn a list of 40 frequently used ones. Beyond that, this book is fun and has a wonderful circle-back format. The illustrations are goofy, but fun. The sound effects are a bit of a diversion from the line of story, but my little guy has them down and loves them.
22 reviews
August 26, 2016
This went pretty well in Storytime, but I also used it to interact with the kids. I asked them what each animal on the pages were and what noises they made - the only problem with this was getting them to quiet down again! It was fun, though. I think it's also a great way to teach prepositional phrases, but more one-on-one rather than in a group. I wasn't a huge fan of the art, but I did like that it rhymed.
Profile Image for J-Lynn Van Pelt.
593 reviews30 followers
March 1, 2009
This is a whimsical tale about a game of tag between predator and prey. The illustrations have a lot of texture and are in double page spreads throughout the book. The text is simple, taking the story throughout a farm and forest. This would be a fun read aloud--getting the students to act out the sounds of the farm animals could make it interactive.
Profile Image for Katie Parker.
48 reviews4 followers
July 1, 2013
While probably intended to teach older school-age children about prepositions (under, in, over, etc.), my almost-two-year olds enjoyed learning about these words in the context of familiar farm animals (mouse, horse, cow, etc.). A cute set-up for a child-accessible plot twist. Great book!
242 reviews
July 27, 2013
"I found this book all by myself! I loved it and liked it." I was so surprised they were playing tag. Mama was a bit worried when I came home from the library that something sad or scary would happen in the book. But it didn't. I really liked the pictures.



127 reviews
July 17, 2008
Great for a pocket chart activity: kids can change parts of the story with different prepositional phrases, or even different characters, then create their own book of prepositions.
Profile Image for Molly.
1,468 reviews14 followers
November 18, 2008
A good choice for storytime, this one has bright illustrations, interactive animal sounds, good vocabulary introductions, and a funny conclusion.
Profile Image for Beth.
775 reviews43 followers
February 2, 2009
Very cute book, would work well for story time. Fun examples of the meaning of prepositions - around, under, over, etc.
Profile Image for Liz.
889 reviews24 followers
October 20, 2012
The simple story with cute illustrations...all while using key prepositions to share where the mouse is being chased.
Profile Image for Rebecca Chew.
27 reviews3 followers
December 15, 2013
What a great book that is full of vibrant colours and teaches on prepositions which are highlighted as the story unfolds over the pages.
Profile Image for Anne.
269 reviews
March 28, 2014
Didn't work as well in storytime as I had hoped, but is a good introduction to prepositions for kids. Perhaps best used one on one.
Profile Image for Karen.
Author 10 books30 followers
April 4, 2015
This book is a pretty clever introduction to prepositions in story form. With a great twist ending. And the illustrations are suitably quirky.
1 review7 followers
September 3, 2015
A fun way to learn or review prepositions and prepositional phrases. It would be great to have student come up with their own preposition story after reading this one! Lots of possibilities!
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews

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