Week 3: Ralph S. Mouse

Cleary, B. (1982).  Ralph S. Mouse.  New York: William Morrow and Company.

I distinctly remember being in fifth grade, and hanging on the edge of my seat listening to my teacher read Beverly Cleary’s The Mouse and the Motorcycle.  I simply could not wait until the next chapter.  Unfortunately, Ralph S. Mouse did not have the same effect on me.  It was a cute story but I was bored from chapter one until the end at chapter nine.

Ralph, the mouse, lives in a hotel called the Mountain View Inn where he enjoys riding his motorcycle.  Ralph has several relatives who have moved in to Mountain View Inn because of the cold weather.  This is bad news because these relatives are becoming a problem for Ralph’s human-friend, Matt, who works at the Inn.  Because he doesn’t want Matt to get in trouble, Ralph decides to leave.  Ralph meets another human, Ryan, who takes him to his school.  This is where Ralph elects to stay.  What happens to Ralph when Ryan takes the suggestion of his teacher to make Ralph his science project?  What will happen to Ralph and his beloved motorcycle?

The nature of the conflict of Ralph S. Mouse comes in different varieties.  While Ralph does struggle with others, mainly his relatives who have moved into the Inn, he also struggles with the society of Ryan’s classmates; thus creating multiple conflicts for Ralph.  He experiences both person-against-person and person-against-society in the story. 

Beverly Cleary’s Ralph S. Mouse would be a very appropriate book to discuss story elements with students.  Both the readability and content are elementary and so any teacher could pick up this book to educate students on elements of fiction such as plot, characters, setting, theme, and style. 

Big questions to ask students after reading Ralph S. Mouse: Why is it important to Ralph that Matt not get in trouble at the Mountain View Inn?  Why did Ryan take the suggestion of his teacher to keep Ralph to show to his school?