"The 14 Forest Mice and the Harvest Moon Watch"

HOME SCHOOL BOOK REVIEW

Book: The 14 Forest Mice and the Harvest Moon Watch

Author: Kazuo Iwamura

Illustrator: Kristi Ludwig

Publisher: Gareth Stevens Publishing, 1991

ISBN-13: 978-0836804973 (library binding)

ISBN-10: 083680497X (library binding)

ISBN-13: 978-0836812688 (hard cover)

ISBN-10: 0836812689 (hard cover)

Language level: 1 (nothing objectionable)

Reading level: Ages 5 to 8

Rating: 4 stars (GOOD)

Reviewed by Wayne S. Walker

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     Iwamura, Kazuo.  The 14 Forest Mice and the Harvest Moon Watch (published in 1991 by Gareth Stevens Publishing).  This is one of the books that we checked out of the library when our younger son Jeremy was a beginning reader to give him additional practice.  Translated from Japanese to English by Mary Lee Knowlton, it tells how members of the Forest Mouse family encounter tree frogs, dragonflies, inchworms, and birds as they climb a tree to enjoy the beauty of the sun and the rising moon during the fall season.  The original book of The 14 Forest Mice was published in 1983.  Other books in the 14 Forest Mice series include The 14 Forest Mice and the Spring Meadow Picnic (1991) in which the members of the Forest Mouse family enjoy the delights of nature as they go on an invigorating spring picnic; The 14 Forest Mice and the Summer Laundry Day (1991) in which the Forest Mice experience both hard work and a lot of fun when they tackle a load of dirty laundry; and The 14 Forest Mice and Winter Sledding Day (1991) in which members of the Forest Mouse family wait out a winter blizzard with indoors games and then go outside to enjoy sledding.  Other books for children by Iwamura are Hurray for Snow (2009), Hurray for Spring (2009), Hurray for Summer (2010), Seven Little Mice Go to School (2011), and Seven Little Mice Have Fun on the Ice (2011).  In some books Iwamura is listed as both author and illustrator, but other ones have different illustrators.