If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

"If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk."

—If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is a children's picture book written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond. Each page has a large, colorful picture and short sentence telling the story of a (nameless yet, oddly, eponymous) mouse and an equally nameless boy. The story starts, naturally, with the boy giving the mouse a cookie. The story goes on from there, with the mouse needing a new item on each page. It ends up with the mouse, once again, wanting a cookie.

The many, many sequels (If You Give a Moose a Muffin, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, If You Give a Bear a Brownie, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, If You Give a Dog a Donut) all follow approximately the same plot, with variations on the animal and food item.

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Tropes used in If You Give a Mouse a Cookie include:

• A Boy and His X: A boy and his mouse.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The book is about a mouse. Who wants a cookie.
• Here We Go Again: The last page has the mouse, once again, wanting a cookie (to go with his glass of milk).
• Nameless Narrative
• Interspecies Friendship
• Second Person Narration
• Stock Animal Diet: Averted. This mouse eats cookies. With milk, of course.
• Talking Animal: The eponymous mouse.