Overview
Join the Mousekin family as they prepare for Christmas! Filled with crafts and recipes, poems and stories, this is a Christmas book to share with the whole family, year after year.
All the highlights of a great December are here. The Mousekins pick out and decorate a tree. Make paper snowflakes with Nana Mousekin. Bake cookies for friends and neighbors. Write letters to Santa Mouse. Welcome carolers. Sled and skate and make a snowmouse. Share family stories of Christmases past. And find secret corners of the house to work on surprise presents for each other.
You can celebrate along with the Mousekins—this book includes recipes for cookies, instructions for paper and felt crafts, and stories and poems to share with your family.
Maggie Smith perfectly captures the happy whirl that is Christmas—when the house smells of cinnamon and ginger and you’re putting the finishing touches on homemade gifts, and the excitement of secrets soon to be revealed is buzzing in the air. Open these pages and step into the warmth of family, the spirit of sharing, and a season full of love.
Synopsis
Join the Mousekin family as they prepare for Christmas! Filled with crafts and recipes, poems and stories, this is a Christmas book to share with the whole family, year after year.
All the highlights of a great December are here. The Mousekins pick out and decorate a tree. Make paper snowflakes with Nana Mousekin. Bake cookies for friends and neighbors. Write letters to Santa Mouse. Welcome carolers. Sled and skate and make a snowmouse. Share family stories of Christmases past. And find secret corners of the house to work on surprise presents for each other.
You can celebrate along with the Mousekins—this book includes recipes for cookies, instructions for paper and felt crafts, and stories and poems to share with your family.
Maggie Smith perfectly captures the happy whirl that is Christmas—when the house smells of cinnamon and ginger and you’re putting the finishing touches on homemade gifts, and the excitement of secrets soon to be revealed is buzzing in the air. Open these pages and step into the warmth of family, the spirit of sharing, and a season full of love.
Publishers Weekly
Smith introduces a crafty--as in resourceful--family of mice in this story about the bustle during the days leading up to Christmas. Kid-friendly projects (mostly paper crafts) and recipes are interspersed, so after siblings Mimi and Momo make decorations with their grandmother, readers can do the same. The story is slight, but several poems and ministories add variety, and Smith's cozy mixed-media scenes of the close-knit family celebrate a holiday filled with baking, homemade gifts, and kind deeds. Ages 5–8. (Sept.)
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Smith introduces a crafty--as in resourceful--family of mice in this story about the bustle during the days leading up to Christmas. Kid-friendly projects (mostly paper crafts) and recipes are interspersed, so after siblings Mimi and Momo make decorations with their grandmother, readers can do the same. The story is slight, but several poems and ministories add variety, and Smith's cozy mixed-media scenes of the close-knit family celebrate a holiday filled with baking, homemade gifts, and kind deeds. Ages 5–8. (Sept.)Children's Literature -
The Mousekin family is preparing for Christmas and begin by finding the perfect Christmas tree to bring home. That afternoon Nana Mousekin arrives, bringing not only hugs and surprises, but her love of crafts that she shares with the family. Nana helps the Mousekin children Mimi and Momo make mitten garlands to decorate the tree and Christmas tree hats to wear. The children also write letters to Santa Mouse and help bake cookies to give as gifts. A fresh snow encourages skating, skiing, and sledding along with carolers who visit the Mousekin family. Old family stories and handmade gifts help make the Mousekin Christmas a wonderful holiday. Instructions for paper and felt craft activities, recipes for cookies, and poems and stories fill the pages of this book, from endpaper to endpaper. Crafts include snowflakes, garlands, tree toppers, and bookmarks along with other crafts. Cinnamon Snail cookies and Gingerbread Mice cookie recipes are also included. Poems and songs are found throughout the book in boxes with the complementary text. A quaint story with beautiful painted illustrations paired with wonderful crafts and activities makes this book an excellent choice for the season. Reviewer: Barbara WheatleyKirkus Reviews
This Christmas compendium of craft ideas, recipes and poems is woven into a related story about a mouse family preparing for their celebration of the holiday. The family, including a visiting grandmother, engages in lots of traditional activities, both inside and outside, with spreads about the mouse family alternating with spreads offering recipes and instructions for simple craft projects. Additional short poems are worked into the illustrations of the family's activities. The anthropomorphic world of the mouse family is quite believable, right down to every detail of their well-appointed home, and the mice are undeniably cute in their winter clothing. The overall result, however, is a busy and rather cluttered effort, very sweet and old-fashioned in tone, which may appeal more to adults than to children. Those fond of mice will find this nice. (Picture book. 4-8)