MOUSE MESS

When a mouse ventures out for a nighttime snack, he turns the kitchen into a midnight mess. He's just waking up, in fact, as the human family toddles off to bed, and the kitchen is his playground. Riley (The 12 Days of Christmas, 1995, etc.) uses bold colors for her cut-paper collages and almost life-size proportions to include readers in the mouse's illicit feast. Cookies, crackers, and cornflakes join olives, peanut butter, and cheese, cascading like a waterfall from the counter to the kitchen floor. When the mouse's pig-out is complete, he cleans himself up using a teacup for a tub. He's ready for bed by morning, just as the family rises to discover the food fiasco he has left behind. A tasty frolic. (Picture book. 4-7)