The Church Mice series facts for kids
The Church Mice series is a series of children's picture books written by English writer Graham Oakley. The books focus on the adventures of a group of church mice who live in an old gothic church in the fictional town of Wortlethorpe, England, and their guardian, Sampson the cat. The books have been widely praised for their richly detailed illustrations and their witty, ironic humor. Several of the church mice books have been nominated for or won major literary awards.
Characters
In the first book in the series, The Church Mouse, readers are introduced to Arthur the church mouse, who lives in the Wortlethorpe church with his friend, Sampson the cat. Sampson, it is revealed, has sworn never to harm a mouse, having listened to many sermons on brotherly love and meekness while living in the church and taken their message to heart. Arthur soon invites more mice to live in the church, earning the permission of the Parson by promising that the mice will do chores and odd jobs to earn their keep. One particularly notable addition is Humphrey the school mouse, who becomes Arthur's good friend but is also something of a troublemaker.
Later books in the series recount the various adventures of Sampson and the church mice, as they travel abroad, defend the church from burglars, and attempt to raise money through a number of different harebrained schemes. Throughout, the books focus on the relationships between Sampson, Arthur and Humphrey.
Film adaptation
Live Oak Media created a direct-to-video film adaptation of The Church Mouse in 1988.
List of church mice books
- The Church Mouse, Atheneum, 1972.
- The Church Cat Abroad, Atheneum, 1973.
- The Church Mice and the Moon, Atheneum, 1974
- The Church Mice Spread Their Wings, Macmillan, 1975 and Atheneum, 1976.
- The Church Mice Adrift, Macmillan, 1976 and Atheneum, 1977
- The Church Mice at Bay, Macmillan, 1978 and Atheneum, 1979
- The Church Mice at Christmas, Atheneum, 1980
- The Church Mice in Action Macmillan, 1982, Atheneum, 1983
- The Church Mice Chronicles (Contains The Church Mouse, the Church Cat Abroad, and the Church Mice and the Moon), Macmillan, 1986.
- The Diary of a Church Mouse, Macmillan, 1986 and Atheneum, 1997
- The Church Mice and the Ring, Atheneum, 1992
- Humphrey Hits the Jackpot, Hodder Children's, 1998.
- The Church Mice Take a Break, Hodder Children's, 2000.
