The Complete Story of the Three Blind Mice. This item is unavailable.The Complete Story of the Three Blind Mice

In this version of the classic Mother Goose tale, turn-of-the-century British writer John W. Ivimey tells what led up to the terrible moment when the farmer's wife cut off the tails of the three mice. "Galdone's familiar, jaunty artwork is done in rich colors and catches all the humorous nuances of the tale that will appeal greatly to young children." -- Booklist

PreSchool-Grade 2 Inspired by the chilling lines of the original nursery rhyme, Ivimey has expanded the rodents' tale and given it a happy ending. Retaining the exact form and rhythm of the original, he begins with three small mice bored with life at home who set off to find adventure. After a cold night sleeping in the open and a futile search for food, they slip into a farmer's house. The farmer shares his cheese with them, but his outraged wife calls the cat. The mice leap out the window into briars where they lose their sight and then their tails to the farmer's wife's knife. Luckily a kindly Dr. Hare heals them with a magic salve, and they return home to settle down. What brings this amusing cautionary tale to vivid and en tertaining life is Galdone's masterful artwork. He infuses such vigor and hu mor into his illustrations that the text becomes fresh and exciting. The bold, action-filled double-page spreads in warm colors view the scenes in fields and farmhouse from various perspec tives and include all kinds of intriguing background details. The goggle-eyed mice in neck scarves, the leather-faced farmer, and his stout wife in mobcap and shawl are delightful. Patricia Pearl, First Presbyterian School, Mar tinsville, Va.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Galdone's last work is an expected delight. His mice are three-as-one, identifiable only by the colors of their mufflers and clearly small in contrast to the vast open spaces around them and the oversize people nearby. In the course of this longer version of the familiar rhyme, they go from bold to scared, grow hungry, sad and sick. A narrow escape from a cat sends them into the bramble hedge that scratches their eyes and makes them blind. Then their tails are cut off by the farmer's wife. Now, "they could not see and they had no end." But this story doesn't end unhappily, and readers will enjoy the lesser-known verses of the mice's adventure. The illustrator's daytime world is lit by a large orange sun disk and colored with a variety of flowers, insects and birds, where things good and bad can happen and where adventure, experience and learning are fully possible. Watercolors and ink lines are used adroitly to fashion into existence a remote but welcoming place in the imagination. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.