Mouse and Mole: Secret Valentine

K-Gr 2--Mouse lists friends to make cards for for Valentine's Day, realizes that Mole is her best friend, and gets "a funny feeling inside-like butterflies in her stomach." As Mole takes out art supplies, he thinks, "Valentine's Day is about love" and experiences "butterflies in his stomach" and a flushed face. Mole teaches Mouse how to cut a heart shape from paper and enhance letters with glue and glitter, and Mouse writes words on the cards. While she receives anonymous valentines and wonders who sent them, she wishes that Mole would ask her to the Valentine's Day dance. She discovers an invitation that someone has placed beneath rose petals in a box of chocolates, asking her to be at the party at four. When she arrives, she discovers that Mole is her "secret valentine," and "together, they stepped out onto the dance floor." Detailed pencil and gouache illustrations set the stage and capture the action. Directions for making a valentine are included. This heartwarming, early chapter book unfolds with perfect pacing, and every word advances the plot, provides information, or delivers humor. A delightful addition.--Laura Scott, Farmington Community Library, MI

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

In their seventh outing, Mouse and Mole are seriously in love, even if Mouse doesn't know it yet. When Mouse receives a "secret valentine," her head is so much in the clouds that she walks into a lamppost. And she's so busy trying to determine the identity of her admirer that she doesn't pay attention to the butterflies she feels whenever she's with Mole. After a romantic dinner and a rendezvous befitting a rom-com, the two animals seal their love with a dance. Yee creates a punchy story arc over the story's four chapters and charming pencil and gouache spot illustrations. This romp of an early reader acknowledges that a first crush can feel every bit as momentous as a more long-term love. Ages 6-9. (Dec.)

Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

"Rush out and treat newly independent readers to this heartwarming tale that brings a satisfying end to the arc of Mouse and Mole's relationship."
—Kirkus

"This heartwarming, early chapter book unfolds with perfect pacing, and every word advances the plot, provides information, or delivers humor. A delightful addition."
—School Library Journal

"This romp of an early reader acknowledges that a first crush can feel every bit as momentous as a more long-term love."
—Publishers Weekly

"[A] gentle, simply written tale. . . A pleasant entry in the Mouse and Mole series."
—Booklist

"Full of blushing cheeks, butterflies-in-stomachs, and goofy grins, the seventhy title in the Mouse and Mole beginning reader series celebrates Valentine's Day with a mouse-gets-mole romantic comedy in four chapters."
—The Horn Book Magazine