The Mouse Bride

by Joy Cowley, David Christiana (Illustrator)

Determined to find the mightiest husband for herself, a mouse approaches the sun, a cloud, the wind, and a house, before the unexpected victor finally appears.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books

32 pages, Library Binding

Published January 1, 1995

About the author

Cassia Joy Cowley is a New Zealand author best known for her children's fiction, including the popular series of books Mrs. Wishy-Washy.

Reviews

[Shiloah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Odd. Just odd.

[Kendall Henson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mouse Bride is a charming book about a little mouse who is ashamed of her weakness and wants to find a strong husband, the strongest, in fact. She proposes to the sun, the clouds, the wind, a house, but each refer to something stronger than they. In the end, she is surprised to find that her expectations about true strength were different from the reality.

I loved the simplicity of this book; how it was entertaining but easy to follow. The concept is cute, and I loved the illustrations of the different characters.

I believe this book is useful in a classroom because of the message that things are not always as they seem, and we cannot judge people by their outward appearance or size. Just because someone is weaker than another, it doesn't mean they have less value, or lack other strengths.

[David W. Cofer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely beautiful story. The book is illustrated with fantastic drawings. It is a delight to read to a child, who will enjoy it immensely. Highly recommended!

[Suzanne Gust · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a story about accepting who you are. It is about a lady mouse that is determined to find the strongest thing in the world to marry her. Every time she finds something she thinks she should marry, they tell her there is something stronger. She is finally led to the “strongest creature” at the end, which is another mouse, just like her. Both the illustrations and text in this book are phenomenal. It teaches kids to be accepting of the great person they are. The only thing I would change is to have more “strong creatures” that the mouse asks to marry before she finds the mouse at the end. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and thought that the illustrations portray the mice as very cute, and I fell in love with them. The boy mouse at the end of the story was incredibly cute! It was a different kind of story than I usually read, and was different from what I thought it was going to be when I picked it up. I really liked that it had a moral to go with it.

[Brennan Wieland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by Joy Cowley in 1995, this books follows a small mouse as she goes out into the world in search of the strongest husband in the world. She is told by the sun that the clouds are stronger than him, the winds are stronger than the clouds and so on. In the end she ends up in a small basement and meets another mouse. It's a good story, but I'm not to sure on the moral. Instead of staying home and moping which she did in the beginning, she goes out into the world and doesn't wait around for something to happen. That's the closest answer I have.

[Chris Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little house mouse is tired of feeling inferior so goes on a quest to find the biggest, strongest husband around. One potential husband after another sends her to another possible match, until she realizes that the perfect mate is right back where she started. Charming text and illustrations make this book feel like a classic.

[Susan]

Written by Linda Allen.

[Beyond the Pages with Eva K · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful and simple story. I loved it!