The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear

Written by Don and Audrey Wood

Illustrated by: Don Wood

Theme: Sharing

Ages: 5+
Themes: Problem-Solving, Sharing

Summary:

The little mouse has a beautiful strawberry he has brought home. The author "speaks" to him about how the bear is coming and really wants the strawberry. After much convincing, the mouse shares the strawberry with the author, keeping it safe from the bear.

Pre-Reading Activity:
Have the students look at the cover of the book. Discuss what they think the story will be about. What do you think the mouse is going to do? What do you think will happen. The students will make predictions of what they think will happen in the book,

Post-Reading Activity:
This is a fun book to act out. Have the students be the mouse with the strawberry and have one child put a disguise on it, or try to hide it. It would be a hands-on creative lesson that kids would enjoy and love the book even more.

About the authors:

Audrey Wood started her career with Child's Play, and is now one of this country's best-known authors for children. Often, she works with her husband, Don, as the illustrator, and their recent books are published by Simon & Schuster and HBJ. Audrey and Don live with their son Bruce in Santa Barbara, CA.

From: Amazon.com

Reflection:

This is a much loved favorite of my children. We must have read this book thousands of times! The silly theme and the trickery involved kept my children amused every time. I will definitely bring this into the classroom to enhance a theme about sharing or helping friends.