Scruffy Bear and the Six White Mice by Chris Wormell

Random House 2011.
(Ages 3-6) A delightful story about a bear's ingenuity in protecting six white mice he stumbles across in the dark and dangerous woods. Scruffy Bear is out for a walk when he hears the terrified squeaks of frightened animals. The six white mice are lost and terrified that they will be attacked by owls, foxes or snakes.
Scruffy is clearly a bear who can think on his feet and just before Owl appears he tells the mice to roll up into six fluffy white balls. Scruff's powers of persuasion are pretty good too as he persuades owl that he is collecting snowballs and saving them for winter. He comes up with an equally imaginative idea to dupe Fox out of a meal, but with predatory Snake he has a few more problems and a stray tail nearly gives the six white mice away. It's only more quick thinking from Scruffy that saves the day and gives the reader a good chuckle at the same time.
This is a gentle and humorous story with a lovely message about protecting those more vulnerable than ourselves.
Claire Larson