| Birthday Mice! | |
| Author: | Bethany Roberts |
| Illustrator: | Doug Cushman |
| Genre: | Children's fiction |
| Series: | Holiday Mice[1] [2] |
| Publisher: | Clarion Books |
| Published: | October 21, 2002 |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Isbn: | 0-618-31367-2 |
| Pages: | 32 |
Birthday Mice! is a 2002 children's book written by Bethany Roberts and illustrated by Doug Cushman. Part of the informally marketed Holiday Mice series,[1] it received mixed reviews.
When their son turns two, the holiday-celebrating mouse family of four[3] holds a birthday for him in a forest clearing, set to a cowboy theme.[2] [4]
Reviews for Birthday Mice!, the fifth title with Roberts and Cushman's characters,[5] were mixed. Kirkus Reviews said, "Occasional rhymes and a musical cadence to the text—with its oompah repetition of words—make this a lively performance piece".[2] Conversely, Eileen Sheridan wrote in the School Library Journal: "This is a difficult book to read aloud; the rhyming text doesn't scan, and sometimes the rhymed word doesn't appear until pages later. [Although] Cushman's animals are personable, [the birthday boy's appearance across] four panels [in two instances] is bound to confuse preschoolers, who will see four separate mice.... Not a first purchase."[6] In separate reviews, The Horn Book criticized the "forced rhyming text"[5] and "uneven" rhymes[7] which the "festive watercolors" helped to compensate.[5] [7]