ALA Booklist (Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2003)

A young boy and his cat sleep soundly as a mouse nibbles cookies on the bed. The munching awakens the cat, who pursues the mouse and is followed, in turn, by a dog, a dogcatcher, a robber, and a police officer. Eventually, after crashing into a fruit and vegetable stand, the sprinters return to their original places, and the mouse turns again to his cookies. Highlighting the story are brightly colored paper-cut collages, which employ multiple layers of paper to create depth and perspective in the scenes. Particularly effective is Donohue's use of fringed paper to mimic fur on the dog and the cat. Crummel's brief text, with a rhythm somewhat reminiscent of This Is the House That Jack Built, is wrapped around the border of each double-page spread. Every line is headed by a notation of the time printed in digital script, which changes and moves, pushing the text around the picture border, as both the time and the story progress. Although one might wish for a richer palate of verbs (every creature chases the one in front of it), this still makes a good choice for preschool story hours, especially given the intriguing illustrations.

Horn Book

When a cat chases a mouse at 6:00 A.M., it sets in motion a sequence of events that ends an hour later with a robber in police custody, a dog reunited with his owner, and the cat back in bed. Although the book is rather over designed, the rhyming story and cut-paper collage illustrations are full of excitement and exaggeration.

Kirkus Reviews

A mouse leads a series of pursuers in a merry chase that lasts exactly one hour. At precisely 6:00 a.m., an orange cat spies "the mouse that started it all" enjoying cookie crumbs while its master sleeps. It leaps out the window after the mouse, only to be itself followed by a dog, then the dogcatcher, a bank robber, and a police officer—to be finally thwarted when the whole parade runs afoul of a grocer's bananas. Crummel ( And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon , 2001, etc.) employs the tried-and-true rhythms of "The House that Jack Built"; while the rhythm occasionally falters, it does move the story along. The double-paged spreads are framed in a deep blue; the text (preceded by a digital read-out of the time) snakes its way around this border, occasionally moving aside when a picture element breaks the frame. Donohue ( Sweet Hearts , 2002, etc.) provides the concept for this offering, according to the title page, and her cut-paper collages offer a bright and cheery setting for the mayhem. While the layering of the papers creates an immediate three-dimensional effect, the figures are arranged against the background with a flat and childlike sense of perspective, making the illustrations as a whole pleasingly in tune with their audience. This flatness of perspective, however, is out of tune with the readouts of the time: the characters simply don't seem to go very far, despite the generous one-hour allowance. Young children are unlikely to notice this disjuncture, however, and this offering does serve to help them develop a sense of elapsed time; that the story ends at 7:00 with everyone back in place except for a new mouse nibbling the crumbs will give those readers a happy frisson that the romp will begin all over again. (Picture book. 4-7)

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2-Vibrant cut-paper collages on large spreads framed in navy illustrate this lively cumulative tale that takes place during one hour. At 6:00 a.m., a small boy and his ginger-striped cat are dozing cozily as "the mouse that started it all" nibbles a chocolate-chip cookie in much-too-close proximity to the feline. What ensues is a chase that involves the cat, a dog, and a dogcatcher, all intersecting with the bank burglar whose swag falls into the net of the catcher who, still chasing the other animals, is now pursued by the thief. Enter the police and a vegetable-store owner laden with a box of bananas, and the end is both inevitable and funny. At 7:00 a.m., the cat returns to the still-sleeping boy, where-in a nearly identical spread to the opening pages-it spies- another mouse. A digital display on the side of each left-hand page alerts readers to the passing of time. The useful sequencing possibilities make this spirited romp informative for read-alouds, and the intricate, colorful art and mazelike quality of the story make it compelling as a solo choice, as well. A terrific addition to most picture-book collections.-Dona Ratterree, New York City Public Schools Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.