Jonathan and his mouse friend return in this third picture book devoted to their adventures, following upon The House Mouse and The School Mouse. With Jonathan's friend Toby home sick with the mumps, the first-grader finds his month-long assignment of cleaning the blackboards after school quite boring. Then the mouse that he brought to school in the previous book surfaces, and they have some interesting experiences, together with the classroom hamster. Will Jonathan's teacher discover what they've been up to? And will he want to stop cleaning the blackboards, at the end of the month...?

It's interesting to note that each of the three picture-books featuring these characters are illustrated by a different artist - The House Mouse by Barbara Cooney, The School Mouse by Chris Conover, and The School Mouse and the Hamster by Judy Clifford. Clifford apparently made her children's book debut here, and the result is quite lovely. Much like The School Mouse, the artwork here alternates between black-and-white two-page spreads, and ones in full color, both appealing. Also like The School Mouse, this is text-heavy for a picture-book, so I'd say it was suitable for older childhood audiences, perhaps first grade and up. ( )