Charlie & Mouse Outdoors

Charlie & Mouse #4

by Laurel Snyder, Emily Hughes (Illustrator)

Charlie & Mouse and their family are off on a new adventure: going camping! Follow along as they take a long drive, have a quick hike, defeat a big lion, hide in a small tent, and conquer the great outdoors—together.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Family, Fiction, Chapter Books, Nature, Humor

48 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 2020

About the author

Laurel Snyder is the author of six children's novels, "Orphan Island," "Seven Stories Up," "Bigger than a Bread Box," "Penny Dreadful," "Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains OR The Search for a Suitable Princess" and "Any Which Wall" (Random House) as well as many picture books, including "Charlie & Mouse," "The Forever Garden," "Swan, the life and dance of Anna Pavlova," and "Baxter, the Pig Who Wanted to Be Kosher."

A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a former Michener Fellow, she also writes books for grownups, and is the author of a book of poems, "The Myth of the Simple Machines" (No Tell Books) and a chapbook, "Daphne & Jim: a choose-your-own-adventure biography in verse (Burnside Review Press) and the editor of an anthology, "Half/Life: Jew-ish Tales from Interfaith Homes" (Soft Skull Press).

Though Baltimore will always be her home, she now lives happily in Atlanta.

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Total charmfest.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute summer family camping adventure with a focus on oral storytelling. Do note if you have very sensitive children that some of the illustrations might be a bit scary.

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This pair of brothers take on the adventure of camping in a way, which invites readers into the pages and is sure to leave them with a smile on their face.

Charlie and Mouse are in the car with their parents and on their way to a camping trip. Driving can be a little boring, but with a bit of imagination and hints from the surroundings, it turns out that the entire ordeal isn't boring in any way. Instead, the two find themselves facing all sorts of creatures, knocking down their tent and learning the art of roasting a marshmallow.

This is the fourth book in the Charlie & Mouse series, and I did not read the others before diving into this one. This was not a problem as each book can be read as a stand-alone.

The book is divided into four chapters, fitting right along with the four different adventures the brothers encounter. The text is just right for readers who are pretty sure of their words and ready to tackle simple chapter books on their own. To make things even easier, there is a colorful illustration on each page, which goes right along with the story.

Charlie & Mouse are great brothers. They joke around a little, fight sometimes, get scared once in awhile, but definitely love to have adventures together. While this book centers around their camping trip, it also brings along several surprises. There's never a boring moment, and it's hard to guess what will happen next. In other words, this is a nice tale first readers are sure to enjoy.

I received a complimentary copy and really enjoyed this fun pair of siblings.

[Jana · Rating 5 out of 5]

During these days of social distancing and warmer weather, many of my friends have posted social media photos of their family enjoying backyard camping. Families are making awesome memories of toasting marshmallows over fires, setting up tents and having fun together. This fourth Charlie & Mouse book has the two brothers enjoying a camping trip with their family. They tell stories to fight boredom during the car trip, use their imagination and fight off scary animals during a hike in the woods, and eat toasty marshmallows by the campfire. Young readers might enjoy reading this one and planning their own camping trip. They could write about it and have special experiences with their own families.

[Bonnie Grover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great early “chapter book”! This book is filled with rich imagination from telling your own story to inventing games and having adventures! I think a lot of young readers are going to love Charlie & Mouse Outdoors.

[DaNae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Camping as a family is fine, but sometimes it needs the spice of an excellent imagination, sometimes it doesn't. I just love these two brothers.

[Lacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each book in the series follows brothers/best friends Charlie and Mouse through an everyday adventure. This installment: camping! The boys and their parents explore the great outdoors and the young pair weave whimsical stories to go along with the adventure. The story is engaging and the sibling relationship is sweet (a rarity in kid lit depictions of brother relationships that I'm always on the lookout for!) The boys, their family, and their neighborhood ring true and avoid being too cookie-cutter. My seven year old still devours these when they come out, even though he's left this level of book.

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two brothers go camping with their parents in this gentle, realistic story. Lots of focus on the fun of making up stories and the power of imaginative play in the great outdoors. .

Veg*n parents note: In the background of two illustrations, we see the parents with fishing poles and a fish they have caught, but this goes unremarked upon in the text.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlie & Mouse go camping with their parents, take a hike and roast marshmallows. Another adorable installment of this terrific series for beginning readers.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of awesome! Like Charlie, I also love my marshmallows burnt.

[Michele Knott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlie and Mouse take the power of telling stories with them as they go camping in the great outdoors.

[Lisa D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are four little stories in this book as this family goes on a camping trip. I enjoyed how Charlie and Mouse were able to use their imagination to entertain themselves in these stories. In the first story, Boring, the children get bored riding in the car, so trying to be creative Charlie invents a story. Charlie realizes how hard it is as the beginning just mimics what is happening around them until something exciting catches Charlie eye. This gets Mouse excited and Charlie’s story takes off! This little story was entertaining and shows how to be creative and how hard it can be. In The Hike, the creative juices are flowing, as the children use sticks to battle monsters (rocks, bushes, just anything they think that looks like a monster) and they come out as heroes. They are having a great time until something live comes walking out and the pair screaming and start running. Funny story and the illustrations were cute. In The Kittens, hiding inside their tent, the children need to think of something nice to take their minds off that scary thing. They come up with lots of ideas and together they let their imagination soar. They’re having such a great time inside the tent, well….things get a bit crazy inside the tent and they’ll need their parents help soon. In the final story, The Fire, the family gathers around the fire at the end of the day and it’s marshmallows, nature, and story time.

A cute book for readers who have some vocabulary knowledge. There are text and pictures on each page to keep the reader engaged. The stories were cute and not fluff material and I liked how there was some activity involved and not negative drama. 3.5 stars.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I were a younger reader, I'd certainly rate this book a 4 because it captures so perfectly what it's like for two boys and their family to go hiking. As an older reader, I still found it charming but not as appealing to my interests as other books and topics are. Since this is the fourth book in the Charlie & Mouse series, readers are likely to know what to expect from the two brothers, and they won't be surprised as things don't always go according to plan in these four interlinked stories. Anyone who's ever been on a road trip with children will smile at the first one, "Boring," in which Charlie makes up an outlandish story to while away the time while they are traveling to their destination. The story starts out pretty blandly at first but quickly picks up details as the car hums along. Eventually, the family reaches its destination and goes for a hike. The boys are thrilled to find sticks and imagine doing battle with whatever is out there, but become frightened by a pig. Once they've settled into the tent, they're still anxious about that pig and pretend to be cats, wreaking havoc on the tent. In the final story, the family toasts marshmallows over the campfire and bask in its warmth and their own contentment. The illustrations, created with graphite and Photoshop, perfectly complement the text, showing off the characters' facial expressions quite well, and readers will come away from the text just as charmed by Charlie, Mouse, and their parents as I was.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlie and Mouse are headed off on a camping trip with their parents. The boys have to think up a story to entertain themselves in the car, their imaginations keep going as the family goes on a hike, and then the brothers entertain themselves in the tent before enjoying a fire at night.

A nice combination of brothers using imagination to entertain themselves along with enjoying the outdoors. Recommended for those who like good brother stories, family vacation stories, active imagination stories, and adventures outdoors.

[Stephanie Bange · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fourth in the beginning reader series about two brothers...this as charming as the others.

Divided into four chapters, Charlie, Mouse, and their parents are headed out to go camping together. Charlie tells the family a story, they go on a hike, find some kittens, and enjoy the evening around a campfire. Short and sweet, the text is well-matched to the illustrations rendered in graphite with Photoshop by Emily Hughes.

Recommended for PreSchool-grade 2.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 4 out of 5]

More Charlie and Mouse! Hooray!

Charlie and Mouse and their parents go camping.
First there's the drive there.
Then, there are adventures in the outdoors.
And playing pretend in a tent.
And finally roasting marshmallows and telling stories around a campfire.

A sweet story of family and fun together.

[Heidi Doyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Charlie and Mouse and the adventures of these two brothers. In this fourth book, they are going camping and their use of imagination on the long car ride, hiking with dangerous wild animals, and toasting marshmallows makes this a great story to read with little ones before heading out on your own adventures.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charlie and Mouse are going camping with Mom and Dad! The drive is long and boring, but the kids make up adventure in the car and later on a hike. They calm themselves from scary things by talking about kittens and they enjoy a campfire with marshmallows!

I read this aloud to my 4 year old, and he loves the series!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlie and Mouse go on a camping trip with their family. They pass the time by telling stories and with imaginative play. A great little book for families that love the outdoors, playing, and making up stories.

[Isaac · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Marshmallows. Charlie burned his marshmallow." --Isaac, age 3

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

May 2020 - one of my favorite new early reader series. Funny, sweet, and always something a little unexpected.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brothers Charlie and Mouse are heading camping with mom and dad in several short stories they explore the car ride, nature, and sleeping in a tent. Cute and fun to read. Elementary and up

[Laine · Rating 5 out of 5]

snyder and hughes make magic again.

[Susan Dunn]

Another sweet sibling story.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

First sentence: Charlie was in the car. Mouse was in the car. Charlie and Mouse were in the car. "This is boring," said Charlie. "Why don't you make up a story," said Dad. "Stories aren't boring."

Premise/plot: The family is out for an outdoors adventure. There are four interconnected stories: "Boring" (about the car trip there), "The Hike" (about an adventure/misadventure they have in the "great outdoors), "Kittens" (an adorable story about how they un-scare themselves from their previous hike), "The fire" (about a family celebration WITH s'mores).

My thoughts: I love, love, love, love, crazy love these characters. This is their fourth book of adventures. I love Charlie. I love Mouse. I love them both together. These two make my day. This one is about their camping adventures with the family. Highly recommend the whole series.

[Megan Conroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an adorable little chapter book that is a very simple and adventurous read as it follows along Charlie and Mouse on a car ride, a hike, and other adventures that being outdoors might bring. There is a lot of imagination and adventure in this story as young little Charlie tries to come up with a story to tell everyone. Although this story does not really have much of a lesson or something to gain from the story, this would be a wonderful chapter book in the first stages of reading in young children.

[FM Family · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG my four year old was OBSESSED. We ended up getting the whole Charlie and Mouse series out after this. Good early reader books that also work as a read aloud. Very in that realm of being about the mundane everyday of being a kid where not much happens (e.g. it rains, or you do some playing) that early readers like Poppleton are good at capturing in a way that makes kids feel seen and keeps them engaged. Would recommend the series.

[Roben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlie & Mouse take a road trip, go on a hike, play zoomies with make-believe kittens, and roast marshmallows! Four exciting adventures in one book all tied together with storytelling. Great fun and a bit of inspiration for beginning readers and those moving into short chapter books.

[Lily Frey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be such a great book for the younger crowd. The illustrations are super cute and detailed. The illustrations allow the reader to imagine themselves in Charlie and Mouses family on their road trip!