It hadn’t been dark when he had fallen asleep, he thinks, though he can’t really remember for sure. Anyway, it’s dark now but he’s awake and he feels even worse than he had before he’d fallen asleep, which he wouldn’t have thought was possible. His head feels weird and thinking is difficult. He should do something about this, but he’s in no condition to figure out what. Delightful story about a fearful little mouse who keeps hearing noises - “Sssh, what was that?!” - and is a great book to teach children that the noises you hear at night are usually harmless! It has a good repetitive dialogue which has helped our sons language skills, and the various sound effects which he loves joining in with - when the branch tap tap taps the window, that’s his cue to tap tap tap on our headboard!

It starts to rain. And it’s not a drizzle, either. Thunder rolls across the sky and lightning flashes and within seconds it’s pouring. The cold rain soaks Eddie to the core and for a few moments it actually feels good, because he’s definitely not sweating anymore. But then the coldness catches up to him and he starts shaking and he’s probably never been this cold in his whole life. He wants to sit down. He wants to crawl into his bed and fall asleep. He wants someone to wrap him in a blanket and pull him inside and hold him until he stops shivering. Diana Hendry grew up by the sea and has worked as a journalist, English teacher and tutor in Creative Writing at the University of Bristol. Her poetry has won a number of awards including first prize in the 1996 Housman Society Competition. From 1997-1998 she was Writer in Residence at Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary. She lives in Edinburgh. He’s starting to feel less foggy in the head and realizes that he has absolutely no idea why he didn’t do that. It seems so obvious, now. “I don’t know.” What’s wrong?” he asks immediately, grabbing Eddie’s arm and pulling him inside when Eddie doesn’t immediately step forwards on his own. Genre Specific Characteristics: Story with a lot of imagination; a plot that is simple, clear and brief; illustrations portray the setting and establish a connection to the location, including time and place as well as creating a mood; the theme is related to a child’s understanding and helps them to deal with a problem situation; words are carefully selected to create vivid imagery and mood; elements of humor are mixed it to lighten the mood a little; animals that talk and act like people but still portray some traditional animal traits and setting.

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Word Choice: The words are age appropriate, rich, colorful, as well as precise, and communicates in a way that moves and enlightens the reader. Classroom Integration: This would be a great text to share in a writing workshop as it has a great sense of idea, theme, and flow. It may be a great way for students to reflect on how to tell a story about a particular emotion they have such as fear, which is displayed in this storybook. It would also be a great book to keep in the classroom library as it has vivid imagery that draws students in and utilizes their imagination. It seems like a text that would be reread by students and thought provoking. Conventions: There is a lot of punctuation in this book used properly, which would help support a better understanding of the function of punctuation in writing.

Idea: The character and plot of this story is easy for children to connect with and have an interest in as it is a common problem for most youth to be scared at night. Not that this is going to happen. Besides, he tries to scold himself with the rational part of his brain, he’s used to taking care of himself. Thinking may be hard, but Eddie’s not stupid even so. He knows he can’t drive like this. So he’ll just have to walk. He knows the way.You can put on these clothes,” he offers, gesturing to the pile on the counter. “They’re mostly yours, so they should fit.” Sentence Fluency: There is rhythm and flow in repetition of words in this text as well as a use of words in which readers are not stopped to decode meaning. Description: Little Mouse, the main character we follow, feels scared when he lies in bed at night. From the sound of the wind, tapping branches, the hoot of an owl and all the bumps in the night, he struggles to fall asleep. Although he asks Big Mouse to come in his bed every time he gets scared, Big Mouse does not want to share his bed and is determined that Little Mouse should sleep alone. After being woken every single time Little Mouse is scared, Big Mouse eventually is so exhausted he lets Little Mouse in his bed and they both sleep soundly.

But this means he’s completely alone. He half wishes he could trade places with Chris, really, he thinks, as he lies atop his sweaty sheets with his face pressed into a pillow. He’s miserable enough to want to be in the presence of someone who cares about him. Someone who will put a hand to his forehead and touch his hair and bring him water so he doesn’t have to drag himself to the kitchen while trying his hardest not to pass out.A bonus too, as a co-sleeping family, it has also really helped to teach our son about different sleeping spaces - he’s just upgraded to his own bed (next to mummy’s side of course!) but he understands that if he wants to come into big mouses (our) bed, he can! It’s made the transition that much easier :)