Mole's Hill: A Woodland Tale – A Heartwarming Story About Saving a Cozy Burrow for Kids

by Lois Ehlert

Mole loves her burrow near the pond. It's safe and cozy underground, and best of all--it's home. So when Fox says Mole has to move her home to make room for a new path, Mole must do some quick thinking--and digging--to save it.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Storytime, Nature, Folklore, Folk Tales

36 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Lois Ehlert has created numerous inventive, celebrated, and bestselling picture books, including Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Holey Moley, The Scraps Book, Mice, Ten Little Caterpillars, RRRalph, Lots of Spots, Boo to You!, Leaf Man, Waiting for Wings, Planting a Rainbow, Growing Vegetable Soup, and Color Zoo, which received a Caldecott Honor. She lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Reviews

[June · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Ehlert's illustrations and use lots of her books for story time. I use this one every year for my Native American program. 1994

Used again 2012, was a stretch for my group, but I don't mind stetching them. 11/28/12

Used again for Story Time 11/12/13

Used with Kindergarten in outreach.

Read in PJ Story Time

Used in Preschool Story Time too. 11/14/14

Was the last book in Story Time and this was the groups first time and they had a hard time sitting through it. 11/17/15

Too much for the toddlers, though several were quite taken with the pictures.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mole’s home is a burrow she dug near the pond. Mole loves her home, but Fox tells her she has to move because there is a new path being made and she’s in the way. Mole cleverly creates a way that allows her to stay right where she is. Fun illustrations.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Previously having read 19 titles by Lois Ehlert this particular one is quite different in content of illustration. Ehlert, using her signature collage technique infuses it Native people art techniques since this story of mole and the hill was part of a Seneca clan tale. The two techniques Ehlert used were ribbon appliqué and sewn beadwork.
This title is a story of trickery where mole outsmart three larger animals. Ehlert depicts all the story elements very well in the illustrations.
The story and art in this title is very well done.

[Sherry Scheline · Rating 3 out of 5]

The artwork is beautiful but it is not a great book for early readers. Sometimes with early readers they just need to learn that pages turn left to right. This book some of the pages are sideways and such. Just not the best learning to read storybook.

[The Transmuted Tree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Red 2nd

[Kristiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the illustrations but the story leaves something to be desired.

[Michele Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely picture book based on a Seneca tale. I used it for a Native American Heritage storytime and the kids really enjoyed it. Beautiful illustrations.

[Seb Marini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fw this, great visual style, strange but cute maybe anticlimactic story but that hardly matters

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mole's Hill is a great book to read when discussing characters, setting, and problem/solution in a story. It also illustrates the idea of working together, compromising, and community. There are four characters, the setting is in the forest, and the problem is that Mole has a hill that is in the way of the path to the pond. The solution comes when Mole makes her hill even bigger, so that she may dig them a hole straight through it, so that she will not have to move and they can still travel a straight path to the pond for food.
This book is also in the Accelerated Reader program and can be read alone to practice comprehension and understanding of a text.
The pictures are bright and vibrant. This book could be used as an introduction to an art activity with fabric. Layering the fabric to get a texture, telling a story with the pieces used.

[Monalisa Johnson-brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is about a mole who had a home on top of a hill. The fox wanted a path through her hill to get to the pond. He wanted to move from where she lived so that he could make his path. At nights she would dig dirt and pile it on top of the hill so it got higher and higher. She planted sunflower seeds and grass seeds which grew and made a blanket over the hill. They decide to let mole build a tunnel through her mountain instead.

[Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Native American tale from Wisconsin's Woodland Indians. Fox and other woodland animals want Mole to move his hill so they can build a path to the pond. Mole's creative solution will inspire children to think out of the box with their own issues. Vibrant illustrations modeled after the Native American ribbon applique and sewn beadwork beautifully depict the story. I loved the Ehlert's use of bark to illustrate the letter Mole recieved in the story.

[Judy Lindow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up sort of bored and ended up loving it. Why? Well it tells a cute story and both the story and bright cutout-collage capture the nature of the mole, fox, raccoon and skunk. It's some how endearing and I have no desire to over analyze it!

There's a problem to be solved. There's the little underdog, mole, and she comes through with a brilliant solution that pleases everyone.

[Raven Grider · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the way the author experiments with text throughout this story. It is very interesting to change the way you hold the book, and the way you read with expression. This would be great for a read-aloud; children would be very engaged.

[Alana Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised to see that this was written by Lois Ehlert. This sends the simple message that you should never give up. It wasn't very interesting to me, but I could see it being interesting to some students, and useful when learning about fables. The pictures are bright and captivating.

[Liz Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a funny story. Lots of little dis-connects for me throughout, but clever and beautiful, of course. Love that they found a peaceful solution to the problem.

Kids could enjoy visualizing that huge hill with flowers and what it would be like to dig a tunnel through it.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the animals decide that mole needs to move her hill she came up with a great idea. Instead of moving she made her hill bigger and planted so many beautiful plants that they changed their minds and came up with a compromise that pleased everyone.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anything by the creative Lois Ehlert is terrific.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazing illustrations!

[Horace Mann Family Reading Challenge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rm 213 Great illustrations

[Stacy Vance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kids loved this book. Great pictures.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

mole's hill: a woodland tale by lois ehlert is a book about problem and solution for the kindergarten classroom .

[Mary-Willoughby Romm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting pictures but cute book. Good to show kids different illustrations which could be good for an approach with teaching stories

[Elizabeth Hardin · Rating 3 out of 5]

very interesting/cool illustrations

[Ashlyn Barker-Salyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't care for this book because I didn't think the story line was all that interesting. I wouldn't use it as a read aloud in a classroom and probably wouldn't buy it.

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

For young audience.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really didn't like it. I think the pictures were too confusing for the kids. They didn't know what a mole is.