SnackPack Studios iconSnackPack StudiosFree illustrated reader
Short read · Free

Ham‑and‑Cheese’s
Big Maze

A four-page maze story about a record attempt and a lost little mouse.

Read togetherKindness4 pages
Begin the story
Ham-and-Cheese the hamster, in golden armour, runs into a cardboard maze.
Page 1 of 4

Ham-and-Cheese enters the cardboard maze certain his nose will lead him straight to the prize. He wants to beat his fastest time.

Ham-and-Cheese finds a small grey mouse hiding behind a cardboard flap.
Page 2 of 4

Inside a narrow tunnel, he hears a squeak behind a loose flap. A younger mouse has lost both the exit and her courage.

Ham-and-Cheese walks the mouse along a corridor, away from a ribbon of cheesy smell.
Page 3 of 4

The cheesy smell drifts around the next turn, but Ham walks away from it to guide the mouse outside. His old record slips away.

Ham-and-Cheese and the mouse share a wedge of cheese at the centre of the maze.
Page 4 of 4

They solve the route together and reach the centre from a new direction. The cheese tastes better shared—and the mouse asks for another race.

The end · Great reading

Why did Ham-and-Cheese miss his fastest time?

Show the answer

He stopped to help a lost mouse.

SnackPack Sentences & Spelling has many more short reads like this one, plus the Reading Trail, word packs and literacy games.

Next storyFoxy‑Lox’s Mystery Trail

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