The Mouse and the Motorcycle

Cleary, B., & Wong, B. D. (2007). The mouse and the motorcycle. New York: Harper Children's Audio.

Genre: Modern/Animal Fantasy

Age Level: 7-11

Summary: Ralph is a tiny mouse who lives in a dingy old hotel off the main highway. One day a boy named Keith and his parents stopped to stay at the hotel. They stay in rooms 215 and 216. When Keith lives a toy motorcycle on the night stand, while his family goes to dinner, Ralph falls in love with it and tries to ride it. While trying to ride the bike he falls into the trash can and is unable to get out. When Keith returns to room 215 after his dinner he notices his motorcycle is missing and looks for it everywhere. The boy finally finds the motorcycle in trash can and notices Ralph lying scared at the bottom of the can. This is where the adventure and friendship between a mouse and a boy begin. Keith and Ralph understand each other and share a common interest of motorcycles. Keith and Ralph create a plan for Keith to play with it during the day and Ralph to ride it at night while the humans are sleeping.

However the first time he did not listen, Ralph had an unfortunate time when he ran into a laundry pile and lost the motorcycle when he chewed through the laundry to save his own life. He thought Keith would never talk to him again but yet again he was wrong. Keith forgave Ralph and continues to bring him food as he always did. But Ralph’s family overhears the employees of the hotel discussion the issue of the chewed laundry and decides they must leave the hotel. Ralph comes up with a plan for his family to stay in the hotel and stay hidden for a few days until the hotel employees forget about them.

Then the unimaginable thing happens, Keith becomes ill. There is no aspirin anywhere to be found anywhere by his parents. Ralph feels it is his responsibility to find Keith an aspirin. While looking for the aspirin Ralph finds himself on another adventure with a toy ambulance but it all ends with an aspirin being left for Keith to take when he wakes up. Keith feels he owes Ralph something in return and offers to take him home but Ralph refuses. Once again another turn of events happens when the bellboy returns the motorcycle to Keith after finding it on the floor of the office. Keith realizes the perfect gift for Ralph would be the motorcycle and so they decide on a place for the motorcycle to be kept once Keith leaves. And so both boys have the experience of a life time.

Reflection: I thought this story was very cute. This is the first book in the Ralph Mouse series by Beverly Clearly. The author writes the story with amazing literary devices that capture the theme which seems to be responsibility in general and the change in level of responsibility as one grows older along with friendship. Beverly Clearly uses personification to make the mouse come to life and have human like characteristics such as speaking. She also uses flashbacks to tell reasons why Ralph’s mother is worried at all times. For example, when Ralph states he needs to get an aspirin, the story of Ralph’s father dying from a dissolved aspirin he carried in his cheek comes about. This also adds suspense to the plot. The use of onomatopoeia throughout the story to make the toys come to life helps to keep the readers entertained.

            This story would keep the interest of students because of the realistic setting even though most of the events in the story cannot really happen. For instance, the mice are found in an old hotel instead of a mansion somewhere. The story is an easy reader so the students do not give up in the middle of the book. I feel the audience of this book is more for boys than girls because the author used a boy, a mouse, and a motorcycle to tell the story. There is no way that the story would have been the same if the characters would have been a girl, a motorcycle, and a mouse because usually girls are afraid of mice and do not play with toy motorcycles.

            I can relate to this story because when I was younger my mom told my dad to get my brother a hamster for his birthday. Instead my dad came home with little white mice with red eyes and I was terrified of them. However, my brother thought they were awesome and would use blocks to make them cages and pretend they were in jail all the time. I hated when he would play with them and I never went in his room until after they died because they just seemed so creepy and made my skin crawl.

            I would use this book in a literature circle or as a read aloud so students can carry out a discussion on the many adventures of Ralph while on the motorcycle. It can be used to teach point of view and the different types of conflict Ralph finds himself in. For example, at the beginning it was person (animal) against person because Ralph was not sure Keith was a good person or not and then it turned to person (animal) against self when Ralph was trying to decide between his good and bad thoughts on taking the motorcycle out during the day. Some questions that I would ask students would be: Where do you think Ralph takes the motorcycle after Keith leaves the hotel? How do you think Ralph’s family gets food after Keith leaves the hotel and is unable to bring them food? Do you think Keith’s teacher will believe his story about talking to Ralph and allowing him to ride his motorcycle, explain why or why not?