Customer Reviews

Babymouse #4: Rock Star

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Babymouse is back in "Babymouse: Rock Star," the fourth volume of the Babymouse series.

This time, school and music are getting her down. Oh, and her number-one enemy Felicia Furrypaws.

How does Babymouse cope? She daydreams, of course. First, she's a rock star. Then, on a boring Wednesday, a tornado whisks her out of school. But, daydreams won't save her from her biggest problem: she wants to play the flute better. She wants to move from last chair in the school band.

Felicia Furrypaws is second-to-last chair and torments Babymouse. Fortunately, Babymouse finds help from a fellow Furrypaws victim and succeeds in the end with a little practice, instruction, and targeted daydreaming.

Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm triumph again with this latest installment in the tales of your average school-aged mouse. Babymouse's daydreams are fun and action-filled, but the beauty of the books is in the everyday. Everyone has angst about their position in the band, everyone fears a school bully, and everyone hates the bus.

The bus is the star of my favorite sequence in "Babymouse: Rock Star." The bus screeches up, the driver says, "Let's get moving! What do you think I am anyway? Your own personal chauffeur?" Then Babymouse comments that the bus "was like an obstacle course." The obstacles? "Doesn't open. Talks too much. Gets bus-sick. Soda spill. Bumpy. Rickety. Kind of scary. Gum. Picks nose. Yells." True, true, true.

"Babymouse: Rock Star" is highly recommended for school-aged children five and up. And, even though "Babymouse" is written at approximately a third-grade level, I've found young middle schoolers love Babymouse as well.

My 6-year-old daughter loves this series. She's beginning to read longer books and this series is just challenging enough to make her feel like a big girl without being so tough that it frustrates her.

There is no smarter or cannier look at school life than Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm's Babymouse series. The traumas that plague Babymouse and her classmates are universal. Gym uniforms ARE ugly, lockers DO attack, school meat loaf SHOULD be regarded with suspicion and riding the school bus is ONLY for the very VERY brave.

In Babymouse: Rock Star, music is a solace and joy for our heroine but even there, chair tests create yet another pecking order, this time in Band. Hoping to work her way up from last chair for the school concert, Babymouse resolves that she will practice hard for the tryout. Alas, the results of her efforts are, "Screeech!" With the help of a friend, she learns that real music is something you feel in your heart. Band parents will completely identify with this story.

Babymouse's wonderful imagination (she is a reader) carries her daily struggles into the world of the Wizard of Oz and the Pied Piper of Hamelin and her musical dreams into the realm of American Idol-ness.

These graphic novels are rich in humor for young readers but junior highschoolers will also identify. If you have not added this series to your library collection yet then do so asap!

Brava!

Babymouse can see it now. Some day people will be lining up around the block to come to her shows. Begging for autographs or a quick picture with her. There's only one problem, she is supposed to be playing the flute and she is not very good at it. How can she get better when what comes out is more of a screeeech then music. She tries and tries, but just doesn't seem to know how to get any better. There is only one person that can help her. Wanna know who? You'll have to read it to find out.

The Babymouse series is a lot of fun for young readers. It's written in comic book style with fun pictures and a storyline that most children can relate to. I had a lot of fun reading it with my daughter who is ten, but could easily be enjoyed by younger children as well.

By Kerri J. Busteed
Author of Will's First Hunt Will's First Hunt

My daughter, who is in elementary school, read this book from cover to cover several times. Since then I have bought other books in the series. These are fun-to-read books and seem to be very popular with girls ages 6-9. She does not seem to get bored with this series and it is good practice for her.

My daughter (9) loves these books. Unfortunately, they are too easy and fast for her to read now. She started reading them when she was 7 and they were perfect. However, she still loves them and I buy each book for her as they come out.

My kindergarten granddaughter loves the Babymouse series, and as she devours them I can sense her becoming more skillful at integrating font variations into a single word-sensation, as well as learning to concentrate and follow the story line from graphic to graphic down the pages of each story. I love to hear her giggle as she "gets" the jokes and the word-play. I think Babymouse is an educational plus!