43 pgs. 3 male (mouse can be played by either gender)
Run Time: 70 minutes
Audience Recommendation: 4+
"It all began so simply..." the Boy remembers, "Mom had gone to aunt Rose's house to bring her over a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies." They're the best cookies in the world, and she left some for him. He's also got a new comic book, JUNGLEMAN, BEASTMASTER OF THE AMAZON, so he heads for the backyard. Then the Mouse shows up, hungry - talkative - and not to be ignored.
The Boy gives the Mouse a cookie, milk, and a straw to drink it with. Tidying up after, the Mouse needs a napkin and a mirror, which leads to a haircut. What a mess! The boy begins to feel like he's on a roller coaster ride and still on the way up. There's no stopping this Mouse! Not only can he talk and cut his own hair and use a handkerchief, he can dance with his own reflection. And he's only getting started.
The Mouse is anxious to help - he helps at home he says - and he wants to clean up his own messes. The only problem is that his clean-ups leave a bigger mess behind than when he started. (Still, it's awfully fun to watch him try.) The Mouse is like the Energizer Bunny - he just keeps going and going and going -and the Boy can think of nothing to stop him, short of a nap. So, they build a soft, sweet smelling bed...they find a way for the Mouse to undress...they find a blanket...a pillow...and the Mouse settles down...but there's still one big problem: he's not tired.
They try a story, JUNGLEMAN, BEASTMASTEROF THE AMAZON. The Mouse imagines himself the hero, and gives a passionate performance of the plot. It doesn't put him to sleep, but it does inspire him to make art. He colors a picture of his family, gives it to the Boy, signs it (so the Boy won't forget him - as if he could!) and mounts it on the refrigerator, which is no small task.
Of course, being so near the refrigerator makes the Mouse think of milk, and he gets very, very thirsty. The Boy resigns himself to the inevitable, gives the Mouse milk and waits for the line we all know is coming..."As long as you're getting the milk...could I have a cookie?"
"For children, Mouse is a time for the free, joyful sort of chaos grown-ups frown on in real life. For grown-ups, it's a freeing invitation to feel younger – even if just for a little while." Orlando Sentinel
"In Jody Davidson’s witty adaptation, the silently perplexed boy of the book has become an ingratiating young narrator and his visitor such a hyperactive chatterbox that you suspect that the little mouse is on meth." The New York Times
"The adaptation is original and infused with a dynamic, witty sense of the uniquely theatrical." The Off Off Broadway Review
"Trying to single out a favorite moment in If You Give A Mouse A Cookie is kind of like trying to pick out the cutest puppy in the basket." St. Paul Pioneer Press
"The show takes you on a journey of messy, side-splitting hilarity." Minneapolis Star Tribune
