Module 4 Literacy Letter - The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary

 

Dear blog,

This week I reread one of my childhood favorites, The Mouse and the Motorcycle (First Harper Trophy Edition, 2000) written by Beverly Cleary and illustrated by Louis Darling. The book was originally published in 1965. The book is the first in Cleary's Ralph S. Mouse series.

The story is about a mouse named Ralph who lives in an old motel, the Mountain View Inn. Ralph makes friends with a young boy named Keith who is staying at the motel with his family. Keith teaches Ralph how to ride his red toy motorcycle and lets him ride it at night. While Keith and his family are gone, Ralph rides the motorcycle through the hotel, encountering many obstacles along the way. Ralph loses Keith's motorcycle when he narrowly escapes a maid's vacuum cleaner. Keith gets upset with Ralph for losing the motorcycle, but Ralph redeems himself by risking his life to get Keith an aspirin when he is sick. To thank him, Keith lets Ralph keep his motorcycle that was found by one of the motel's maids. The Mouse and the Motorcycle is a great book to use in the classroom. The book is a great tool to use to teach character traits, story elements, visualizing, cause and effect, vocabulary, and more.