Beverly Cleary: Mouse and the Motorcycle, The (1980, Yearling)
English language
Published April 15, 1980 by Yearling.
The Mouse and the Motorcycle is a children's novel written by Beverly Cleary and published in 1965. It is the first in a trilogy featuring Ralph S. Mouse, a house mouse who can speak to humans (though typically only children), goes on adventures riding his miniature motorcycle, and who longs for excitement and independence while living with his family in a run-down hotel.
The book was released as a selection of the Weekly Reader Children's Book Club (Intermediate Division) and won the William Allen White Children's Book Award in 1968.
An adorable just-so classic with real but relatable stakes, sightly fantastic but truly grounded story beats, and a setting that gets more "period" by the day. We ended up reading the last four chapters all at once because the kids were so gripped by the urgent quest Ralph must undertake. "We have to find out what happens!!"
