Mercer Mayer's popular Little Critter enjoys a special day in the city with his mother. Little Critter means well, but he gets himself in trouble all along the way. His mother is oh so patient when Critter loses the train tickets, picks up a dinosaur egg in the natural history museum, and misbehaves at lunch. In spite of his difficulties, Little Critter falls asleep happily on the train going home, exhausted from the big outing with his mother.

When I was three or four years old, I saw this book in the window of a book store and asked my mother to buy it for me. Fifteen years later, the book still brings me incredible joy. Beyond the events in the story itself, it represents the connection between a child and his mother; she is analogous to the giving tree in the Shel Silverstein book. She created me, and with that creation, created the incredible world as I am now able to see it through the eyes and mind that she created. Despite any and all of one's faults (losing a train ticket, making a mess in the museum and the fancy restaurant), mother still lives with unconditional love and dedication to the child (smiling off the faults, buying more train tickets, eating a hot dog from a vendor instead of the fancy restaurant). A wonderful book, truly makes one appreciate the world and its female creator.