Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse!

by Laura Joffe Numeroff, Felicia Bond

Following on the heels of Merry Christmas, Mouse! and Time for School, Mouse!, a Valentine's Day board book explains why Mouse loves each of his friends for their special qualities and how much they each love him back!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Holiday, Fiction, Animals, Friendship, 1st Grade

19 pages, Paperback

First published November 24, 2008

About the author

Laura Joffe Numeroff is the NYT best-selling author of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, What Mommies/Daddies Do Best and Raising a Hero. She was born in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from Pratt Institute. Laura grew up as the youngest of three girls, surrounded by art, music, and books. An avid animal lover, Laura has always wanted to write a book about service dogs. She now lives in Los Angeles, California.

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, it’s cute and sweet sweet how Mouse makes the valentines to match his friends’ interests. Sooo, I’m probably just being “bah humbug” but I didn’t love the reasons Mouse gave for liking his friends. He loves Cat because he’s strong, Moose because he’s a good artist, Pig because she’s a good dancer. I don’t like the message this sends. We should love our friends for who they are and how they make us feel — not because of their talents.

[Rossy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's Valentine's Day and Mouse is making a valentine for each of his friends, and letting us know why he loves each one!
Finally, they all show up unexpectedly at his door, showering mouse with valentine's cookies! :)

[Holly Letson · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a child, I loved If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Back then, it was a standalone, instead of a series. So, I have not read many of the other *Mouse* series books.

Overall, this was enjoyable. I still prefer the original.

[Harlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t wait until Valentine’s Day

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I am not terribly fond of these books. But this one is better than most in the series. My daughter and I read it and she loved it.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Join Mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie as he celebrates Valentine’s Day with all the friends he loves.

This board book with sturdy pages is perfect for preschoolers, who will enjoy the simple introduction to the fun of Valentine's Day.

"This title follows Mouse as he makes valentines for all of his friends," said School Library Journal. "Each valentine is made to represent what he loves most about each of his friends, such as Pig 'because she's a good dancer' and Bunny 'because she's the best at hide-and-seek.'"

Budding artists and crafters will love this book, perfect for pairing with Valentine's Day activities. A surprise at the end adds to the read-aloud fun!

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet story about Mouse making Valentines for all of his friends, decorated according to each of their talents and personalities.

It does not follow the circular format of the original story, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, but has the same cute illustrative style, and would be fun to read aloud with children for Valentine's Day.

[Delaney June Dorko · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ Cute, simple, fits the series well!

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

2/9/2026 - Read this with Madison during our Parents as Teachers visit with Ms. Kathy. Sweet story, but I thought the writing was disjointed.

[Caekelia Sutton MB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Text-to-self connections- In this story mouse creates valentine's day cards for his friends. The main character knew what each of his friends were interested in and what made them happy, so he used his creativity to create cards that his friends would love. While growing up in my elementary grades, it was exciting to create and label cards for my friends and share candies and other gifts.

Caekelia

[Ellesse Denerson(EDUC378)]

Text to teach connection:
The second book I picked was Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse, I chose this book because this will be a fun quick activity for the students, after reading the story each student will make a valentine’s day card for someone special in their family or even in the classroom. I think with valentine’s day passing this will be an excellent activity for students.

[Olivia Thames · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my favorite ASL story time related tasks is searching for books that associate with approaching celebrations and holidays of all backgrounds and cultures. It puts one in a state of nostalgia when the joy of gathering together with classmates and friends, family and loved ones, was the reason we are on this earth in the first place.

Note: As I typed the above statement I made a promise to never put that feeling on the back burner again.

Laura Numeroff's, "Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse!" is not a title at the top of any list of crucial and beneficial books to read to children before their next milestone, but it is one that (with the right amount of enthusiasm) will start them on a path of recognizing why they love those around them. I would say the earlier someone looks for what makes a person unique and worthy of love the better.

My hope for anyone who shares this book, in any medium or language, will continue to encourage the children in their lives to pick love, to celebrate what makes someone special, and to appreciate that special trait without ignoring their own. That is a big hope for a short book, but it is a hope that is not out of the question.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is adorable and really thoughtfully illustrated. The artwork is vibrant and has little details that add to the story, such as how Mouse designs Valentine cards that artfully represent each of his friend’s unique talents. Pig loves to dance, so she is pictured wearing shoes that are part ballet flats and part tap shoes. Knowing that Mouse loves cookies (lol obviously), his friends make him cookies with little pink heart sprinkles. It’s details like those that make this a pleasure to read.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's ok. Mouse loves his friends for very conditional reasons (they hide well or whatever), which is relate-able for kids but annoying for me. I haven't read any of the other Mouse books except If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, and I was disappointed that this one wasn't like that one (which I love). My toddler liked it well enough.

[Ali Book&Seaglasshunter · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Mouse books aren’t my favorite, but of course my kids like them so we’ve read a few. This one just seems like they told the author to come up with a Valentine’s story in an hour. It’s one of those books that you know was only produced because the characters sell well. Basically The story is that Mouse makes Valentines Cards for each of his friends based on one of their talents or interests. Just not much to make this one special.

[Alyssa Victoriana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a very cute and short book about a mouse who loves all his friends for different reasons and wants to make them Valentine’s Day cards for the reasons he lives them. The colors and illustrations are very bright and colorful and show all the effort that mouse is putting into the cards. At the end of the book all mouses friends show up to surprise him for Valentine’s Day with cookies. It’s sweet but basic.

[Nora Manriquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is amazing. This book is great to read to children to when it is almost Valentines Days so they can learn about how to make Valentines Day cards and it will be informative if the someone doesn't know what Valentines Day is. Also if you have read all the book of this series children will be happy to see all the characters in a single book.

[Kimberly Medley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse is a books about friendship and mouse knowing each of his friends. Each card that Mouse made for his friends he personalizes them based on what each friend like to do. This book could be good for teachers to use in the month of February and have the children find out their friends interests.

[Jada · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great holiday book because it not only talked about Valentine’s Day but friendship. I would use this book in my class during February to talk about how each friend we have is special. It brings together social emotional and holiday. The illustrations in themselves were entertaining because it showed why mouse loves each friend and included himself in the card.

[Ashley Zuniga · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book includes colorful illustrations of Mouse making Valentine's card for his friends. The vocabulary of this book is rather very simple. The illustrations are eye catching for children to pay attention to detail. I would recommend using this book around Valentine's Day or to introduce friendship.

[Trenea Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Happy valentine's day, Mouse!", is an adorable book to read to young children on Valentine's day. This book has a very colorful illustration that will help keep children engaged. This book is also good when discussing how to use kind words. Also, this book is not long which is great for young children.

[Aarvik · Rating 5 out of 5]

tadpole: "At group time, we did attendance with our name cards before reading our book. We read "Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse!" which was about Mouse making cards for his friends and listing all of the reasons he loves them. We told the children that if they had made/brought Valentine's for their friends, we would pass them out at our party later this afternoon. 🙂"

[Madison Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a very sweet book to read to students. It is themed around Valentine's day. The mouse writes Valentine's day cards to all of his friends and compliments them about something. This is a good example of someone being a good friend and caring. The illustrations in this book are very detailed, bright, and fun to look at.

[Bailey Alamillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mouse's only greater love than cookies is friendship. To show how much he values his buddies, he has elaborate Valentine's Day preparations this year. To express how much and why he cares, he wants to craft the ideal card for each buddy. With crayons, paint, and a whole lot of love, he gets to work.

[Jimena Gomez]

This was a cute book about friendship. I think students would enjoy this book especially around Valentine's Day. In the book the mouse explains what he loves about his friends. I could read this book to my students and also ask them what they love about their friend or if they have a friend similar to mouse friends. I think this would be a good way for students to engage more with the book.

[Andrés · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book is fun because the reader needs to connect the words to what the valentines show in each picture. I'm not sure if the traits of Pig, Moose, Cat, Dog, Bunny, and Fox match their interests and activities in the other books in the series, but this book would be very cool and satisfying if so. As for Mouse, his friends seem to know that he really likes cookies.

[Lee Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good, the kids made me read it to them T H R E E T I M E S I N A R O W, a whole month A F T E R Valentine's Day. And every time we got to the last page they'd throw their hands in the air and yell, "HAPPY VALIMTIMES DAY, MOUSE!" Classic.

[Hannah Berenzweig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a nice and easy read for children who may just be beginning to read. This book shares a lot of love for friends and gratefulness for good friends. It is good and useful for children to learn good qualities that their friends may have as well, which is shown throughout this book.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

"If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" is a classic and I've adored most of the books that have followed in its wake. "Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse!" is no exception. It's much shorter than the original, but with the same illustrations and cute plot, it's easy to love. My son enjoyed reading it.

[Danielle Quintero · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to read for Valentines day or the day before, also great for friendships when teaching a lesson on that. Mouse loves his friends so much, that he cannot wait to make valentine cards for them, telling them exactly what he loves about them each!