You probably didn’t know that this book was written in 1985, and is today considered a contemporary classic!
It is so well-received, that Charles Schulz (yes, the Peanuts strips creator!) created 2 strips about it! The series has fans of all ages from all over the world including Japan, where an entire Tokyo city bus was painted with images of Mouse, and First Lady Michelle Obama read the book on the White House lawn during the 2009 Easter Egg Roll! How cool is that!
Author Laura Numeroff has often said in interviews that the idea for the story came to her during a car trip she took with a friend from San Francisco to Oregon. She narrated it as they drove and later wrote it down. The manuscript was passed over by nine publishers before being taken on finally.
The text was interpreted by illustrator Felicia Bond to show the increasing energy of the mouse, with the little boy being run ragged by the end of the story. Bond describes rushing to get the sketches done before leaving town with her boyfriend and that the energy of the mouse evolved from that excitement. She has mentioned on numerous occasions that the little boy in the book was her boyfriend, Stephen Roxburgh, as a child.
What is the moral of the story? Here are 2 which I learned about.
Firstly, it is that one should possess empathy, respect, and basic manners. Even though the mouse asks for so many things from the boy, he just does it because he does it out of the goodness of his heart. This is a value we need to teach our children.
Secondly, it is how even a seemingly simple task may end up being more complicated than you originally thought, which teaches the importance of setting limits, even on a good deed. This is a lesson parents need to learn, and apply firmly so that our child can learn.
So, should we give a mouse a cookie? Yes, I think we should, but we should also teach the Mouse how to make the cookies so that he will have countless cookies to eat in future!