Help KS1 children play detective alongside Hermelin the Detective Mouse by scanning the illustrations of this visual feast of a book for clues.
These activities are perfect for comprehension work. Children will create a table of what they can observe, what they know and what they can infer from that.
What is Hermelin the Detective Mouse about?
Author Mini Grey is famed for her inventive and intriguing picture books. Here she introduces us to a little hero – Hermelin the Detective Mouse.
The author has packed each page with labels, notes and writing of all kinds. There’s plenty of visual clues alongside Grey’s trademark sense of humour.
One look at this book and I was hooked, sucked into the seemingly normal neighbourhood of Offley Street. Yet this familiar-looking street has a rather unfamiliar hidden resident – who just happens to be a mouse.
He’s not just any mouse though, he’s one who finds he can read and write – he even has his own typewriter – and that he has a particular eye for solving mysteries.
Residents are enamoured by their community’s secret detective, that is until they come face to face with their mystery saviour.
Throwing him a thank-you party at Bosher’s Sausage Shop, the screams of terror and the cry of ‘MOUSE!’ ring in Hermelin’s tiny ears. He discovers the awful truth – people actually consider him a ‘pest’.
All is not lost, however. The lovely Emily from number 33 sees in Hermelin a kindred spirit, and they join forces to start their own detective agency. A mouse detective – what’s not to love?
Judy Clark is primary adviser at the National Literacy Trust. She is also English ITE lecturer, and Talk4writing Adviser, together with Pie Corbett. Browse more resources for KS1 reading comprehension.
