The Church Mice Spread Their Wings

The Church Mice #4

by Graham Oakley

With Sampson, the church cat, as a reluctant protector, the church mice set out on a country outing that is almost disastrous.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Cats, Comedy, Comics, Fiction

39 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Graham Oakley is a children's book author and illustrator, most active during the 1960s to 1980s. He is best known for the Church Mice series and also illustrated many book covers in the 60s.

For the current UK author of children's books at Top That! press see Graham Oakley.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another lovely adventure with Samson, a church cat who has taken a vow not to hurt mice and his friends the church mice. In this book the mice tire of town life and plan a weekend in the country with Samson as their escort. As expected this doesn't go to plan, and their country break isn't quite as relaxing as they thought it would be. After some action packed adventures with rafts and a barn owl it all ends with a big mouse party.

There is so much detail in the illustrations, they must have taken ages. The pages have several scenes on each page and lots of text, something I don't often see in books aimed at the same age group these days. This story uses a wide vocabulary, using many words I wouldn't expect to see in stories for this age group, words like sagacity and fatalistic, as well as using some interesting colloquialism.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fourth in a series of picture-books detailing the adventures of a group of church mice and their cat companion, The Church Mice Spread Their Wings sees Humphrey the Schoolmouse leading his companions on a weekend getaway, where they will have their "fevered brows soothed by the cool fingers of Mother Nature." Needless to say, all does not go quite as planned in this hilarious tale of "world" travel...

Discovered quite by chance, Graham Oakley's Church Mice series has provided a charming diversion, with engaging stories and humorous illustrations. My appreciation of them doesn't seem to be quite as enthusiastic as some other reviewers, perhaps because I never encountered them as a child. That said, I have enjoyed them, and think that this may be my favorite. The disconnect between the illustrations and the text is priceless, as is Sampson's decision to fall in with some of Humphrey's misconceptions. This one had me giggling.

[LJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the fourth book of the Church Mice series, the mice decide to go on a nice outing to the countryside with the usual disastrous consequences. This one makes almost constant use of Oakley's wicked sense of humour through the juxtaposition of what the words and the pictures are telling us, which makes it an absolute delight. Something I love about the beautiful and detailed illustrations is that all the mice look the same. In this one you can generally tell who Humphrey is because he is carrying a map around, but otherwise all mice are equal, they look like mice. There is a tiny 'plot-hole' or stretching of disbelief in this one when Arthur and Humphrey get stuck in a loft, but we can plainly see a wooden ladder. The joke is that it is useless for such tiny creatures but they are mice, who are naturally excellent climbers so they could easily just run down the side of it, but I guess these are not mice-mice, they are the Church Mice who are too anthropomorphised to act that much like real mice. Sadly my edition again doesn't have a wrap-around cover so I think I am missing half an illustration, but I absolutely adore the title and end pages of this one - the title page for seeming kind of sweet and then ending with a big laugh as your eyes move to the bottom right of the illustration, and the end page for being rather ghoulish as baby mice flee in terror from Arthur and Humphrey. A delightful addition to the series with lots of laugh-out-loud moments.

[Elizabeth Theiss Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The church mice lived in the church, of course, along with a somewhat gullible cat in a small English village. They spent a good deal of time outwitting the cat and living sociably. The dialogue is bright and funny enough to keep .parents interested while the illustrations delight kids. We read the series to our children who adored them all. Some of the sayings live on as family memes passed on to the next generation. "Nighty night, Old Sausage," from one tired mouse to another are still parting words at bedtime among the cognoscenti. I wish they were still in print so I could send them to my grandchildren.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The one I enjoyed the most.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Graham Oakley is a very talented illustrator. I am jealous! There’s so much to see in these books. :-) needless to say, it’s a family classic.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arthur and Humphrey the Church Mice talk some of the others into a foray to the countryside with Sampson the cat along as reluctant guard.

These books are delightful. The text is fun, with a bit of good-humored snark (Sampson remarks that "...creatures who were just walking dinners should have stayed at home") but it's the illustrations that add the cherry on top.

[Nadhira Ramadhani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an amazing book. Read this to my year 2 class today and they loved it. It's not so much of the plot of the story (that of course is captivating itself) but the way the words are married to one another making it sound so poetic and beautiful as I was reading it. :D

[Webcowgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had lots of laughs in the art!

[Eyehavenofilter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sppreading your wings is not easy for a mouse or even a group of mice determined to head out to the " outdoors" for a weekend, and all does not go as planned... Does it ever with this group? And Sampson feels guilty for secretly wishing that things would turn out badly when they.... Oh you know they will!

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found that most of the ideas in this book went right over the heads of my kids. The grand and noble ideas expounded upon by Humphrey cracked me up, but weren't counterbalanced with the kinds of slapstick humour that my kids have enjoyed in the other books