Genre
Picture books for children
Theme
Overcoming fear
Subject
Animals
Cooperation
Fear
Friendship
Helpfulness
Hiding
Rumor

There are 5 best friends and they hear a rumor going on about Mouse and it hinders the friendship between the five friends.

This fantasy is a book because the animals are talking! This book is about a mouse and his friends rabbit, hedgehog, and squirrel. Mouse hear that snake wanted to hurt him so he was hiding from him. While hiding he feel in a hole and was hurt. Along came snake and asked what was going on the friends were scared to ask for his help with the fear he would hurt the mouse. Snake said he would never hurt mouse because he was his friend and ended up recusing him. This story would be great in talking about why we shouldn't believe everything we hear and that we should not gossip about out friends.
Grade: Primary, Intermediate
Illustrations: Collages, collographs ( )

Summary:
This story begins with a little scared mouse hiding from a snake. A hedgehog, the mouse's friend, came along and asked why it would be hiding from their friend, the snake. The mouse let hedgehog know that fox told skunk, then skunk told him, that snakes were dangerous to mice. Hedgehog tried to assure mouse that there was nothing to be afraid of since he and snake were friends, that it was just gossip. As they were walking and talking, mouse fell into a hole, hurting his foot. Hedgehog went for help. Mouse later realized the true meaning of friendship and the necessity to avoid gossip.

Personal Reaction:
I enjoyed reading this story. It's a good lesson to teach children about how gossip can get started and how important it is to avoid it. The illustrations were pretty simple, but I liked how the facial expressions showed how the animals were feeling. This would be a good book to add to a classroom library and implement into a lesson.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. This story is excellent for the game, Telephone. We could all make a circle. I can start off by telling the first person a secret. They can whisper what I say to the person standing next to them, and so on. The last person to receive the secret can say it aloud. This game perfectly demonstrates gossip. We can then talk about the importance in avoiding to spread gossip and also believing it.
2. This activity would focus on friendship and teamwork. We could all gather around in a circle. I could hand everyone a spoon. I can start off with a golf ball on my spoon. I would carefully pass it to the person standing next to me. They would pass it to the next person, and so on. This would help the students work together as a team. ( )

Mouse has heard that snakes are dangerous to mice. he's concerned about his friend, Snake. Hedgehog tells him not to worry, but Mouse worries anyway - so much that he doesn't look where he's going and falls into a hole. How's he going to get out? All of his other forest friends have various reasons why they can't help. Who'll save the day? You guessed it!

This is fun and makes a good point about friendship (and how to say "thank you" after a good deed). I read Snake's part with a cowboy-style accent - just seems to suit him.