Seven Blind Mice

Young, E. (1992). Seven Blind Mice. New York, NY: Philomel Books.

Brief Annotation: Six colorful blind mice explore one part of a large mystery animal on each day of the week, each believing that the part they have explored is something other than what it is. On the last day, the seventh, and wisest of the mice decides to "look" at the whole picture, and solves the mystery. The story ends with a helpful piece of wisdom.

Genre: Fable

Grade Level: Pre-K-K

Readers who will like this: Children who are learning colors or the days of the week, children who like to solve simple mysteries or puzzles, and children who like short stories and animals.

Response/Rating (1-4):4. In this engaging, and eye-catching story, children will enjoy solving the mystery while they learn colors, and the days of the week.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: Have you ever worked with a friend to solve a problem or a mystery?

Reading Strategies Connection: Literacy Centers (Tompkins, 2009). In Literacy Centers, the teacher sets up different learning centers that use the text to increase the literacy skills of the students. Centers that include skills such as sequencing events from the story, using puppets to retell the story, and many others can be created for students to rotate through. This story is full of valuable information on days of the week, parts of an elephant, colors, and sequence that inspires a lot of different skills centers.