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The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse: a book club kit
Where it comes from. Aesop, a storyteller in Greece, told this about 2,600 years ago.
In short (for the leader; it gives the ending away). Town Mouse visits his cousin Country Mouse and turns up his nose at the plain food of the country. Country Mouse goes to town, where there is a feast, but a cat and two big dogs chase the mice into a hole. Country Mouse goes home, saying that plain food in peace is better than cake in fear.
The lesson, in one line. A calm, safe home is worth more than fancy things.
Reading plan. Read it together at the meeting: about 3 minutes aloud, or ahead of time at home.
Questions to talk about
- What is the moral of The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse?
The story's answer: A plain, safe life is worth more than a rich one full of danger. A 13th-century preacher, Odo of Cheriton, said he would rather gnaw a bean than be gnawed by constant fear, and Henryson's moral is to limit your wants. In this telling, Country Mouse says plain food in peace is better than cake in fear. - Who wrote The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse?
The story's answer: It is one of Aesop's fables, and no one knows who first told it. Babrius and Horace both told it long ago, and it spread across medieval Europe in the Latin version of Walter of England, a 12th-century writer. This page is a retelling in Peabody's own words. - Is it the City Mouse or the Town Mouse?
The story's answer: Both names are used for the same fable. English retellings have gone by titles such as “The Country Mouse and the City Mouse” and “The City Mouse and Country Mouse,” and Henryson's Scottish poem calls the cousins the “Uponlandis Mous” and the “Burges Mous.” - Do you agree with the lesson? Can you think of a time it would not be true?
Listen for: Any answer with a reason is a good one; listen for a real example from their own lives. - Which animal would you rather be in this story, and why?
Listen for: Children often pick the winner; ask what the other animal could have done differently. - If you told this fable with people instead of animals, who would they be?
Listen for: A way into why fables use animals: everyone can see themselves in them.
Did you know?
- One of Aesop's fables. The Greek writer Babrius told it, and so did the Roman poet Horace, in his Satires (book 2, poem 6).
- Horace called it “an old wives' tale.”
- The Scottish poet Robert Henryson told it in a long poem called “The Taill of the Uponlandis Mous and the Burges Mous.”
Activity: Act it out, then swap the ending
Two readers play the animals and the rest are the narrator. Then play it again where the other animal wins: what is the lesson now?
More to talk about
More facts for the leader
- The French poet La Fontaine told it as Le rat de ville et le rat des champs. Beatrix Potter turned it around in The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse in 1918.
Words to teach before you start
- cousin: family member
- barley: a grain
- crust: hard bread edge
- feast: big fancy meal
- peace: calm and quiet
- bounding: leaping along
- scampered: ran quickly
Questions leaders ask
How long does a The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse book club meeting take?
Reading it aloud takes about 3 minutes in all, so plan one meeting of 30 to 45 minutes, with time left for the questions. The reading plan on the sheet says where to stop.
What age is The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse for?
It is written at Peabody level 7, a grade 2 reading level, so most children at that level can read it alone. Younger children can listen to it read aloud.
Do the children need to read it before the meeting?
No. Each child can read it free on Peabody, before the meeting or together at it, and the questions work either way. The sheet's short version gives the ending away, so keep it for the leader.
How do I use the questions?
Start with the story's own questions, which have answers in the leader's notes, then move to the open ones and listen for reasons. There is no wrong answer to an open question. Stop when the group runs out of things to say.
Club kits for stories like this
- The Ant and the Grasshopper (level 7)
- The Boy Who Cried Wolf (level 7)
- The Dog in the Manger (level 7)
- The Fox and the Crow (level 7)
- The Fox and the Grapes (level 7)
- The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs (level 8)
How this kit is made
The short version, the facts and the first questions with their answers are the story's own, written for its page in Peabody's library and checked against the sources named there. The open questions, the activity and the plan are Peabody's, written for this kind of story. No part of it is written by a computer model.
Running the meeting: the meeting plans (30, 45 and 60 minutes) and the sign-up sheet.