Product Description

One day three white mice discover three jars of paint--red, blue, and yellow. Children will enjoy this lighthearted presentation of a lesson in color. Full-color illustrations. A Redbook Best Picture Book; American Bookseller Pick of the Lists. Baby-preschool.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #151693 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Three white mice get into some primary hued paint pots, and emerge as artful members of a lesson on color and camouflage. When they are white mice, on white paper, the cat can't see them. Then they spy three jars of paint, one red, one yellow and one blue. "They thought it was Mouse Paint. They climbed right in." Thus begins a flirtation with paints (mixing colors, making new shades, dancing in swirled puddles) that provides them with nearly all the colors in the spectrum, and when the paint dries, they bathe in the cat's water bowl until they are white again. Simplicity reigns in Walsh's brief tale, and a feeling of joyful discovery pervades her broad lines and expressive figures. Her message is clear, one which readers will respond to: paints have many purposes, at least one of which is fun. Ages 2-6.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
One day three white mice discover three jars of paint--red, blue, and yellow. Both parents and children alike will appreciate this lighthearted presentation of a lesson in color. Walshs cut-paper collage illustrations have bold colors and just the right simplicity for the storyline. A real charmer thats great fun as well as informative. (School Library Journal )

Three white mice get into some primary hued paint pots, and emerge as artful members of a lesson on color and camouflage. When they are white mice, on white paper, the cat can't see them. Then they spy three jars of paint, one red, one yellow and one blue. "They thought it was Mouse Paint. They climbed right in." Thus begins a flirtation with paints (mixing colors, making new shades, dancing in swirled puddles) that provides them with nearly all the colors in the spectrum, and when the paint dries, they bathe in the cat's water bowl until they are white again. Simplicity reigns in Walsh's brief tale, and a feeling of joyful discovery pervades her broad lines and expressive figures. Her message is clear, one which readers will respond to: paints have many purposes, at least one of which is fun. Ages 2-6. (Publishers Weekly )

Ingram
One day three white mice discover three jars of paint--red, blue, and yellow. Children will enjoy this lighthearted presentation of a lesson in color. Full-color illustrations. A Redbook Best Picture Book; American Bookseller Pick of the Lists. Full-color illustrations. Baby-preschool.

Customer Reviews

Love to paint them mousies, mousies what I love to paint
I'm curious. Why do the best picture books explaining color involve solely, and with few exceptions, mice? I mean, just consider Denise Fleming's fantastic "Lunch" or Ed Young's stunning, "Seven Blind Mice". For some reason, mice are just prone to well written color-infused storylines. "Mouse Paint" is no different.

Three adorable albino mice (able to hide from clever cats by standing on white pieces of paper) come across three jars of pain. On is red, one is yellow, and one is blue. Thinking, in a typical mousy fashion, that the jars of paint are Mouse Paint, the three climb in. Next, they set about dipping their toes in other colors, creating whole new combinations. Thus, kids learn that when a red mouse does a jig in a puddle of yellow paint, his feet will eventually turn a bright cheery orange. By the end of the tale, the mice are painting all sorts of colors hither and yon, mixing and matching shades in all sorts of new and exciting ways.

The book is made from a series of cut-paper collages. You wouldn't necessarily know this when looking at it, however. These mice have verve and pep. Their puddle dances are lively and entertaining. There are subtle in-jokes, such as the mice washing themselves clean in a large bowl that reads, "CAT". And to top it all off, they're pretty darn cute to boot. Though I've seen good books explaining colors to kids, this is the best I've seen that explains how to create a new color out of the combination of two others. All in all, it's a good read and an entertaining one as well.

Passes the kid test with flying colors!
I know...corny heading--but so true. My three year old loves this book, and my 20-month old goes crazy for it. We checked Mouse Paint out from the library, then rechecked it out, and finally ordered our own copy. When the book arrived, my toddler exclaimed, "Daddy! Mouse Paint!"

This is a cute and clever telling of how mixing paint colors brings new colors. The pictures are simple, but appealing, as is the text.

Bottom-line: If your children are 0-3 buy this book!

Laugh and Learn!
We stumbled on this award-winning picture book by accident - but what a find! Three clever mice, illustrated by author Ellen Stoll Walsh in colorful cut-paper collage, discover three jars of "mouse paint." With childlike curiousity they dive right inside. And like children who can't resist splashing in puddles (mine included), the mice "splash" and "mix" and "dance" until they make a colorful mess. My daughters were already learning to identify colors. With Mouse Paint I was able to introduce the mixing of colors RED, BLUE, and YELLOW to create GREEN, ORANGE, and PURPLE - a concept they would not have learned until later.