"I'm quick and smart as I can be. Try and try, but you can't catch me!" Mouse Deer sings his song as he walks through the forest looking for tasty fruits and roots and shoots. Though he is small, he is not afraid. He knows that many big animals want to eat him -- but first they have to catch him! In these delightful trickster tales from Southeast Asia, find out how Mouse Deer gets the best of his enemies -- Tiger, Crocodile, and the most dangerous animal of all, Farmer! TEACHERS AND LIBRARIANS -- A READER'S THEATER SCRIPT OF THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE IN AARON'S BOOK "FOLKTALES ON STAGE," OR FREE ON AARON'S WEB SITE. ///////////////////////////////////////////////// Aaron Shepard is the award-winning author of "The Baker's Dozen," "The Sea King's Daughter," "The Monkey King," and many more children's books. His stories have appeared often in Cricket magazine, while his Web site is known internationally as a prime resource for folktales, storytelling, and reader's theater. Once a professional storyteller, Aaron specializes in lively retellings of folktales and other traditional literature, which have won him honors from the American Library Association, the New York Public Library, the Bank Street College of Education, the National Council for the Social Studies, and the American Folklore Society. Kim Gamble is one of the most popular children's book illustrators of Australia. He is also a frequent contributor to that country's much-loved School Magazine, where Aaron's Mouse Deer stories first appeared. ///////////////////////////////////////////////// "A retelling of some of Southeast Asia's most popular folklore .... Simply narrated, The Adventures of Mouse Deer is witty and steeped in the power of myth, as well as high-spirited determination.... [A] delightful introduction to an enduring legend."-- Small Press Bookwatch, Midwest Book Review, May 2005 "Mouse Deer's small stature leaves him vulnerable in the jungle, but Crocodile, Tiger, and Farmer are no match for this quick-witted, fearless creature. Give this book to children making their first forays into chapter books, and visit the author's Web site to download readers theater scripts." -- Daryl Grabarek, School Library Journal, Dec. 1, 2009 ///////////////////////////////////////////////// CONTENTS 1 ~ Mouse Deer and Tiger 2 ~ Mouse Deer and Crocodile 3 ~ Mouse Deer and Farmer ///////////////////////////////////////////////// SAMPLE Then he heard something. ROWR! There was Tiger! "Hello, Mouse Deer. I was just getting hungry. Now you can be my lunch." Mouse Deer didn't want to be lunch. He looked around and thought fast. He saw a mud puddle. "I'm sorry, Tiger. I can't be your lunch. The King has ordered me to guard his pudding." "His pudding?" said Tiger. "Yes. There it is." Mouse Deer pointed to the mud puddle. "It has the best taste in the world. The King doesn't want anyone else to eat it." Tiger looked longingly at the puddle. "I would like to taste the King's pudding." "Oh, no, Tiger! The King would be very angry." "Just one little taste, Mouse Deer! The King will never know." "Well, all right, Tiger. But first let me run far away, so no one will blame me."

Collects folk tales from Indonesia and Malaysia that relate the adventures of the trickster Mouse Deer, who must think and act quickly to avoid being eaten.

"Follow along with Little Fox as he plans a surprise picnic for his friend Owl,"--

Sophie the mouse, Hattie the frog, and Owen the snake find a charming and apparently abandoned cottage hidden in the woods, and soon start spending all their free time there, cleaning and fixing it up for Mrs. Rabbit's family who are in need of a home--the project is going find until the owner shows up.

Eight-year-old Sophie Mouse's excited to return to school after the long winter break, but there's a new student--a snake--and Sophie and the other animals are afraid to sit near him, much less ask him to play with them, because they've heard that snakes are awful.

Sophie Mouse wants to prove how wonderful mice are for a school project she is doing with her brother, Winston, but starts to have doubts when, even with Hattie and Owen's help, she is unable to learn to swim.

A little bird who’s learning to fly accidentally winds up in Sophie’s yard in the eighth charming book of The Adventures of Sophie Mouse! Sophie gets a surprise visitor when a little bird makes a crash landing into her yard and hurts his wing. But with Sophie and her friends to help nurse him back to health, the baby bird will be flying high in no time! With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Adventures of Sophie Mouse chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

Sophie discovers a mysterious crystal cave, but her friends don’t believe her, in this twelfth charming book of The Adventures of Sophie Mouse series! Sophie Mouse and her friends are playing hide-and-seek near Butterfly Brook. Sophie finds the perfect hiding spot, but she finds something else, too! It’s a glowing cave. The problem is, when Sophie tells her friends about her discovery, they don’t believe her! After all, who’s ever heard of a cave that glows? Now Sophie is on a mission to prove she’s telling the truth! With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Adventures of Sophie Mouse chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

Sophie Mouse is so excited to help her mother bake treats for Silverlake Forest’s big Maple Festival in the fifth book of The Adventures of Sophie Mouse. It’s finally fall in Silverlake Forest, and that means it’s time for the annual Maple Festival! The animals have heard it is going to be the biggest one yet with games, rides and, of course, Lily Mouse’s famous maple-filled bake-stand. Sophie is delighted when her mother asks for her help baking the goodies for the festival. When they get there, Sophie runs off to play with her friends…until she notices that no one has come to her mother’s stand! Can she use some quick thinking and her artistic skills to draw customers in? With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Adventures of Sophie Mouse chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

Whitefoot is a mouse who lives at the edge of the woods, where she knows, without a doubt, that she exists at the center of the world. What she doesn't know is that not far from her safe haven there is a world of such magnitude that she cannot even imagine it. Full color.