Estelle Takes a Bath

by Jill Esbaum, Mary Newell DePalma (Illustrator)

A heartwarming tale of unlikely friendship




Estelle is nice and cozy in her bath, but the poor shivering mouse outside in the blizzard is anything but cozy. All he wants is a chance to warm up, so he squeeeeezes himself into the toasty little house. Little does he know that Estelle hates mice--and so does her cat!


This wild, soapy romp will warm even the most mouse-hating heart.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Humor, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 3, 2006

About the author

Jill Esbaum is a full-time writer and author of I am Cow, Hear Me Moo!, I Hatched!, Stanza, and Tom’s Tweet, among many others. She lives on a farm with her husband and children in Dixon, IA.

Reviews

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poet Jill Esbaum has teamed up with Mary Newell DePalma, creator of dreamy illustrations that are among the most beautiful I've ever seen in a picture book.

What a lively plot, with humor that often comes close to slapstick. Words and pictures combine to make this as vivid as any movie... to the reader who has learned to access imagination. (And maybe this lovely book can encourage young readers to start imagining.)

And then that sweet surprise of an ending. Never would have thunk!

Wonderful, wonderful, book!

[Evelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Estelle really needs a robe...

[Chrisanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

A random pick. Unashamedly tries too hard for laughs.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

As much as I loved the rhymes, the naked dancing/chasing/antics were too much. It would have been equally funny if she were wearing a robe...or SOMETHING at least.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute and silly. Really enjoyable story.

[skcocnaH · Rating 1 out of 5]

So… Estelle is naked the entire book.

[Megan Cureton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about Estelle and how she is taking a nice pleasant bath, when suddenly she opens her eyes and there is a mouse right there with her in the tub! Estelle lets out a scream and they go chasing throughout the house. They make a terrible mess in the kitchen, where Estelle grabbed a broom to get the mouse with. She even jumped her kitchen table to get to the mouse, but he was too fast. The mouse jumped the teakettle and scorched his foot, while Estelle's toe got clobbered. The mouse eventually slips and lands in the tub, when Estelle suddenly realizes that he can't swim. Her heart turned soft, and she ended up saving him and they ended the book with them two in the bubble bath together. I thought that this book had an overall good message that they were going after, but I felt the illustrations took away from the text. If I would have read the text with different illustrations, or no illustrations at all, I feel like this would have made the book ten times better. The illustrations were a little too inappropriate for me and I wouldn't want my children to look at these illustrations. I feel like these illustrations would also get a lot of 'ewwww' and take the children's focus off the story and they would be too worried about the illustrations because there is a underdressed lady the whole time. I also didn't care for some of the words the author chose for this book, some words I feel like the students wouldn't understand or know in their vocabulary yet, for example, buff. I probably wouldn't have this book in my classroom library simply because of the illustrations.

[Brittaney Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esbaum,J.(2006).Estelle takes a bath. New York: Henry Holt and Company

"Estelle Takes a Bath" by Jill Esbaum and illustrated by Mary Newell De Palma is a delightful tale about a woman and an unlikely friend she makes. As a storm brews outside a little mouse seeks comfort in a little home owned by Estelle. While Estelle takes a bath the little mouse is seen must to Estelle's fright. Soon Estelle tries her best to rid the mouse from her home. As Estelle chases the mouse around the author uses a variety of humorous items to cover her in this funny tale. But when the mouse falls into the tub Estelle decides she isn't afraid of the mouse and instead saves him from the water and puts him in a tea cup. The two become unlikely friends. The whole story is humorous and the illustrations are even funnier. I thought this story was clever and entertaining and I would recommend this book. Little kids would find it funny but not sure if it's very appropriate for school maybe an at home read is better.

[Taahira · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the rhymes and story (especially at the end) were really cute!! With that said, I don't think I would read this to a class because I think it's inappropriate. All throughout the book, the woman is running around nude, only barely being covered by a newspaper or bubbles or other random objects. Although some may find it humorous, I don't think it would be right to read to children and I would have liked to read it to a class if she had at least bothered to put on a robe.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A silly, witty, rhyming tale of the ruckus that erupted when a shivering, cold, yet nosy mouse gets inside to warm himself and disturbs and startles Estelle as she's taking a nice cozy peppermint scented bath.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun rhymer. Contains rodents and mild nudity.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son just about died laughing when he saw Estelle's soapy bum!

[Tonya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't stop laughing after reading this book, we bought it to read over & over. We highly recommend.

[Shai · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter and I had such a fun time with this book. It was funny and cute.

[Mollie B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for storytime,
Rhyme scheme galore.
Kiddos will love it;
They'll ask for more.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A humerus and sweet picture book!