The Field Mouse and the Dinosaur Named Sue

by Jan Wahl, Scholastic Inc., Field Museum of Natural History

When the dinosaur bone that is his roof is excavated, a field mouse tries to reclaim it by following it into a crate which ends up at the Field Museum in Chicago, and there the mouse watches as Sue, the most complete T. Rex fossil ever found, is assembled.

Genres: Picture Books, Dinosaurs, Childrens, Animals, Science, Nonfiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2000

About the author

Jan Wahl was an American author best known for his imaginative and influential children’s books, which combined wit, warmth and a deep respect for young readers. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Wahl showed artistic promise early, performing piano on children’s radio programs and appearing on stage alongside legendary magician Harry Blackstone Sr. He studied at Cornell University, where he took classes with Vladimir Nabokov, and continued his education in Europe as a Fulbright scholar before completing graduate studies in the United States.
Wahl began publishing children’s books in the mid-1960s and quickly became a prolific and celebrated voice in the field, ultimately writing more than 120 works. Titles such as Pleasant Fieldmouse, The Furious Flycycle and Humphrey’s Bear earned him a devoted readership and critical acclaim. His stories were frequently illustrated by major artists, including Edward Gorey, Maurice Sendak and Mercer Mayer, and were praised for their playful tone, emotional intelligence and sense of empowerment.
Beyond writing, Wahl led an unusually rich cultural life, working with filmmakers, writers and artists, lecturing widely on film history and literature, and maintaining close ties to both the literary and cinematic worlds.

Reviews

[Kiersten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Copyright Date: 2000
Number of Pages: 29 Pages
Book Format: Dust Jacket Hard Cover
Grade or Reading Level: K-4th
Genre: Fiction, Children's Literature
Lit Requirement: Favorite Children's Story

The Field Mouse and a Dinosaur Named Sue is a very informative story about Sue the Dinosaur in the eyes of a tiny field mouse. One day while the field mouse is sound asleep he is woken up by loud banging, only to find workers searching for something. One day, he realizes the bone, which is the roof of his house, to be missing. Being the curious mouse he is he begins on a journey to find his missing roof. After being trapped in a pitch-black box he finds himself in a strange place called the Field Museum and assumes his missing roof is somewhere in this building. Day after day he goes into different rooms to find everything else except his missing roof. He is constantly hearing voices that say “Sue” but he never knows what the excitement is all about. Until one day, he wakes up to loud voices and a huge crowd around a dinosaur he had never seen before. Being the curious mouse he is, once everyone leaves for the day he goes to inspect Sue. To his surprise, he realizes that something so vicious could now be a place where he finds comfort.
I think this is a great story for children who want to get to know more about dinosaurs or even a little about the Field Museum. I would give this story a 4 out of 5 stars. Bob Doucet creates wonderful illustrations to capture each of the field mouse’s experiences from his perspective. From making the people look extra tall to the comparison of the field mouse next to a sandwich. There is some slight humor in here as well that children will love. Jan Wahl and Doucet do an exceptional job of making the history of Sue the Dinosaur exciting and engaging.

[Judah Copeland]

This book opens with a mouse who is just on his lonesome in his little den when he hears someone yell look at this bone I just found! This then makes these people dig up his den taking him and his bone with them to the united states and in a magical place called Chicago. He starts to hear something called sue being referred to over and over. This whole time at the museum the mouse keeps looking for a good place he can call his own looking for his bone. After the big dinosaur is taken away he then finds the thing called Sue which is a giant dinosaur called a T-rex. He then climbs up to it under the foot he finally finds his beloved bone that makes him feel cool, safe, and, secure. I would use this in my classroom when talking about refugees who have been looking for there bone that has been taken from them. I would ask the kids in the class if you have ever felt as if they had ever moved? Relating this to the refugees who have been kicked out of their homeland.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A field mouse, whose home is a bone, ends up at the Field Museum in Chicago exploring the different exhibits until he reconnects with his “roof,” a bone in Sue’s foot.

[Stacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mouse 🐭 and a dinosaur 🦖 at The Field Museum in Chicago - what’s not to love??

[Heidi]

November is dinosaur month at my library, which is perfect for the nephews. they liked this one.

[Turrean · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice beginning to our second grade dinosaur unit. Softly colored, realistic illustrations with plenty to see. The kids noticed the world "Sue" on walls, boxes, and banners throughout the book, and were intrigued. There was some lively conversation about why the dinosaur was named "Sue," a question answered by the author's note at the end.

[The Brothers · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little field mouse's house gets destroyed with paleontologists find a dinosaur in her canyon. She ends up getting packed away with the bones and taken to the Chicago Museum of Natural History. There she makes a new home for herself and eventually finds the bone that was her doorway, only this time, it's the foot of a giant T-Rex.

Illustrations are okay.

[Mauri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this with my six year old. A cute little story about the real life find of the world's largest T-rex. Told from the perspective of the little field mouse that lived under one of the bones. We find him brought along back to the museum where he makes a new home and finally finds his bone that was once part of his home.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had a fascination with Sue since she hit the Field Museum. I loved this story to introduce young readers to her. I would have preferred that the mouse be left off and it just talk about the excavation of her. That in itself is a fascinating story. The "true" story is at the end of the book.

[Kit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly fun because we just went to the Field Museum.

[Kate Hastings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grades K-3. Explores "Sue" the giant T-Rex that was reassembled and put on display in the Chicago museum.

[Curtis Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars if you like dinosaurs (or mice). Nice story even if you don't.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 stars for writing, bumped up to three for subject matter.

[Georgia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Field Mouse and the Dinosaur Named Sue by Jan Wahl and illustrated by Bob Doucet is the story about archeologists discovering and reconstructing in the Chicago Field Museum the world’s largest T. Rex dinosaur, named Sue. It is cleverly told through the eyes of a little brown field mouse whose home was hidden under one of the dinosaur’s large bones. But when the scientists dig up and move the bones to Chicago, the little field mouse is also transported. Finding himself in a large museum, the field mouse observes scientists scraping bones and pouring plaster. He explores a room in the museum with dragonflies big as birds. He learns what life looked like more than 300 million years ago. Then he finds the biggest dinosaur of all—the T. Rex—and happily his old home, under a big bone in Sue. The story and pictures are very imaginative as one of the world’s smallest creatures, a little field mouse, is educated about the world’s biggest historical creature, the T. Rex.