Count to Ten and Beyond With a Christmassy Mouse

In my intensive Christmas book perusals, I've come to discover that mice are pretty popular as subjects for holiday tales. Maybe the mouse's small role in the opening lines of the iconic A Visit From St. Nicholas has something to do with that, maybe not. But The Little Drummer Mouse, Who Is Coming to Our House?, A Merry Little Christmas: Celebrate From A to Z and Angelina's Christmas are just a few examples of Christmas books that feature mice in prominence. Another is Merry Christmas, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond.

Numeroff and Bond have collaborated on several mouse-related books in the past, starting with If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, which has become a classic. Merry Christmas, Mouse!, a sturdy mid-sized board book, is their latest, and while it's very short on text, that doesn't make it any less adorable than their previous efforts.

Mouse has taken it upon himself to decorate the Christmas tree, and each page brings a new type of decoration. First he puts up one ornament, then two of a kind, then three of a another kind all the way up to ten, at which point the book takes an unexpected and entertaining turn. Among the decorations Mouse uses are traditional favorites like angels, snowflakes, snowmen and tin soldiers, but he also changes things up a bit by including robots and rocket ships.

Not only is the book a fun lesson in counting, it enables kids to feel as though they are decorating the tree along with Mouse. My family's Christmas tree has always been beautifully chaotic, with a marvelous mish-mash of uncoordinated ornaments, and it's fun to see Mouse's tree similarly arrayed, particularly at the end of the book when we realize just how big a decorating job he has ahead of him!

Merry Christmas, Mouse! contains only four sentences, but the vibrant illustrations say enough that few words are needed. If you give a mouse a Christmas tree and a box of ornaments, a lot of fun will follow!