Distant Lights Ages 7-10

Adventure Stories from Highlights

The Mouse and the Motorcycle Ages 8-12

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Ralph the mouse was terrified. All he had wanted to do was ride the little motorcycle someone had left on the table. Instead, both Ralph and the motorcycle had taken a terrible fall - right into the bottom of the wastepaper basket. He was trapped, left to wait for whatever fate was in store for him.

The Mouse and the Motorcycle

By Beverly Cleary, Tracy Dockray, Louis Darling

Illustrated by Tracy Dockray, Paul Zelinsky, Louis Darling

Edition: reissue, illustrated

Published by HarperCollins, 1965

ISBN 0380709244, 9780380709243

158 pages
Amazon.com Review
"Pb-pb-b-b-b. Pb-pb-b-b-b." With these magic vocables, Ralph the mouse revs up a dream come true--his very own motorcycle. Living in a knothole in a hotel room, young Ralph has seen plenty of families come and go, some more generous with their crumbs than others. But when young Keith and his parents check in to the hotel, Ralph gets his first chance to check out. He has always fantasized about venturing beyond the second floor, maybe even outside. Curiosity overcomes caution, and Ralph must have a go at Keith's toy motorcycle. Soon, the headstrong mouse finds himself in a pickle, when all he wanted was to ride a motorcycle. Lucky for him, the boy understands how it is. When he discovers Ralph in his thwarted attempt to abscond with the toy bike, Keith generously encourages the rodent to ride. He even teaches him the simple trick of starting the motorcycle: "You have to make a noise... pb-pb-b-b-b." The subsequent situations Ralph motors into require quick thinking and grownup-sized courage. The team of Beverly Cleary and Louis Darling has been a great favorite for decades, introducing young chapter readers to Ramona, Beezus, Henry, and of course Ralph the mouse. (Ages 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 ) --Emilie Coulter

aspirin, knothole, mousehole, Room service, bellboy, chromium, vacuum cleaner, Gridley, Ralph's mother, baseboard, yapped, exhaust pipe, blueberries, peanuts, Scout's honor, ping-pong, SBAV, ambulance, whiskers, thought Ralph

Mirette on the High Wire Ages 4-8

Mirette on the High Wire

By Emily Arnold McCully

Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully

Edition: illustrated

Published by G.P. Putnamʼs Sons, 1992

ISBN 0399221301, 9780399221309

32 pages Ages 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 RL=3.6

In a story set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Paris, Mirette, a young girl living in the Widow Gateau's boarding house, becomes the pupil of a former tightrope walker and, in exchange, gives her teacher a valuable lesson about faith and courage.

Inspired by the exploits of the ...

... daredevil Blondin, an exotic, suspenseful story about the affection and loyalty between teacher and protege: Mirette learns tightrope-walking from Monsieur Bellini, a famous wirewalker who has lost his nerve and is staying in her mother's Parisian boardinghouse, because he can no longer perform. For Mirette's sake, Bellini plans a comeback--a walk across a square from one high rooftop to another--but he freezes on the wire until Mirette dashes up to the opposite roof and walks out to meet him. Intense colors, strong contrasts of light and shadow, and artistes and dandies straight out of Toulouse-Lautrec convey the atmosphere of Paris in la belle Époque--a real departure in style and subject matter from McCully's mouse-family adventures.

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Caldecott Medal & NY Times Best Illustrated Book