Poppy's Return (The Poppy Stories) [Library Binding]

Avi (Author), Brian Floca (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Series: The Poppy Stories

Poppy returns ... with big trouble. Family trouble.

Poppy and Rye don't know what to do about their son Ragweed Junior's attitude. He is rude, he is crude, and he has dyed his fur to look like Mephitis, his skunk friend. In short, Ragweed Junior is very much a teenager. Even Ereth, the cantankerous porcupine, with his salty swearing, can't straighten him out. Then Poppy gets an urgent request to return to her old home, Gray House, where her aging parents, Sweet Cicely and Lungwort, are in difficulties. Not only does she agree to go back, she decides to take Junior, in hopes traveling together will bring them together. But when Junior's skunk pal and Ereth join the party, the trip doesn't quite go as expected. And when Poppy recalls she did not get along with her parents, things become even more complicated.

Poppy's Return is a hilarious adventure tale about family: the gleeful joys, the farcical sorrows, the high emotions, and the low comedy of living with and without relations. It's also about bears, bulldozers, and the boisterous antics of young mice doing the stinky red. And sugared slug soup, there's always Ereth to stir the stew of Poppy’s rich and rewarding life.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6–In this latest installment in the series, Avi gives his animal characters an uncomfortable humanity. Poppy, now the mother of 11, faces middle age with sighs and regrets while her troublesome son Ragweed Jr. suffers the pangs of adolescence. When humans threaten to destroy Poppy's parents' home, she and Ragweed make the journey together, developing respect for one another's courage. This book lacks the delightful charm of the previous books. The deer mouse's midlife crisis and her son's adolescent rantings aren't well suited to their animal natures and won't be understood by the target audience, and the dialogue ranges from trite to grating. Avi devotes over half the book to the family conflict and very few pages to the attempted destruction of the farm, which, when it does come, is too facilely resolved. While Ereth the porcupine's colorful metaphors will please readers, there is little else to hold this book together. Unless series readers demand it, look to other titles such as M. I. McAllister's Urchin of the Riding Stars (Hyperion, 2005) for animal adventure.–Caitlin Augusta, The Darien Library, CT
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-6. In the fifth book in the series that began with Poppy (1995), mouse Lilly urgently requests that her sister, Poppy, join her in visiting their childhood home, Gray House. Poppy travels with her rebellious teenage son, Junior, and his enigmatic friend, Mephitis, a skunk. Soon after her arrival, Poppy is hailed as the new family leader and saddled with the seemingly impossible task of saving the rundown house from destruction by the bulldozer that sits nearby. One of the book's main achievements (and an odd one it is, for a children's book) is the portrayal of Poppy's position as a member of the "sandwich generation," caught between the demands of mothering a smoldering teenager and managing an unreasonable father. Whether children will find this challenge of interest is questionable, but series fans will probably read this book just for the pleasure of keeping up with Poppy; they'll enjoy the occasional humor as well. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Library Binding: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (July 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060000139
• ISBN-13: 978-0060000134
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,317,253 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh, my! Marvelous, the best Dimwood story yet!, August 15, 2005

By 

Matthew T. Carpenter (Peoria, IL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Poppy's Return (The Poppy Stories) (Hardcover)

I have 2 sons, ages 6 and 7. I read to them every night. Previously they had very much enjoyed the other Dimwood books and so when we saw a new Poppy book we naturally got it.

While I have liked Avi's other works, this book was something very special and is clearly my favorite of all the Dimwood books. The characters should all be familiar to Avis's many fans who have been following his Dimwood Forest adventures. Poppy is happily settled with Rye and her 11 children in Mr. Ocax's old tree stump next to Ereth's log. But all is not idyllic. Somehow or other middle age has snuck up on Poppy. She has a teenaged son named for Rye's brother, Ragweed. To distinguish him from the original Ragweed they call him Ragweed Junior, or Junior for short. And Junior is just a little more than Poppy can handle. He seems distant, surly, rebellious; she has lost touch with him. His conversation is full of phrases and idiom that he has heard about in stories about the original Ragweed. He has a new best friend, a skunk named Mephitis (what a clever name!). Junior has colored his fur with soot to look like a miniature skunk and has Mephitis spray him with stink so he, well, stinks. Even Uncle Ereth can't talk sense into him. Poppy and Rye are completely baffled. Into this impasse steps Lilly, Poppy's sister, who comes with an urgent message that Poppy's father, Lungwort, is ill and their old home, Gray House, is being threatened by a bulldozer. Will Poppy go adventuring once more, to return home and confront her old fears (her father) and face a new one (the bulldozer)? Of course, or we would not have had a story. She and Lilly depart, and she decides to take Junior to try to reconnect with him. Well Junior demands that Mephitis be allowed to go and Ereth decides he needs to follow to protect Poppy.

The stage is now set for wild adventures, including a confrontation with a bear and the climactic encounter with the bulldozer. And throughout Avi weaves his magic with touches both clever and poignant about parents and children, and what is the meaning of a family. Do you want something other than what you have? Maybe someone is envying you. Perhaps understanding skips across generations. Maybe you can come home again and then return to the new home you made on your own. My sons were thoroughly charmed, thrilled by the adventure, amused by Junior's fur colors and gasping with laughter at Ereth's swearing. And in some ways this was a gentler book than previous Dimwood adventures. There were no scary death scenes here. May I add that as usual the generous number of Brian Floca's illustrations were a joy?

This is a wonderful book for young and old.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Little Mouse, Big Adventure, October 4, 2006

By 

Wantz Upon A Time Reviews (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poppy's Return (The Poppy Stories) (Paperback)

Avi's beloved little mouse Poppy is back in POPPY'S RETURN. Now the mother of eleven mice, Poppy must return to Gray House. Poppy's father is ill, and he has sent her sister to find her. Someone will have to save Gray House from the bulldozer looming outside.

Poppy decides to bring her son, the rebellious Ragweed Junior, along on the journey. She hopes to find common ground with the detached teenager. She can't remember being so wild as a youngster. Junior's best friend Mephitis is a skunk, and he has dyed his fur to match his smelly friend! Poppy faces her newest adventure with more uncertainty than ever.

Fans of Avi's "Poppy" series will love the latest installment. He treats the strained relationship between Poppy and Junior with the mix of humor and seriousness it deserves. Kids will love the genuine puzzlement Junior's antics cause his mother. Even better, most kids will relate to Junior's attempts to find himself, as well as his deep loyalty to Mephitis. Readers will learn the importance of looking beyond the surface of a situation, as well as dedication to friends and family.

I highly recommend this book for young readers and classrooms. Students will find a Reader's Theatre script at the end. Another bonus it that this book can be read even without prior knowledge of the series.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
10/4/2006

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Slow Going, September 4, 2007

By 

S. Rosencrans - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Poppy's Return (The Poppy Stories) (Paperback)

This was my first time reading any of the "Poppy" series books. Though I had heard many great reviews about the books, I was a little lost to the appeal. The story began with an interesting plot focused on the grumpy Junior and his deflated relationship with his parents and siblings but the story took a different direction when Poppy and her crew set out for her old home. The saving of her childhood home took a bit of a backseat to pages of banter and I began to lose interest. The character of Mephitis was endearing as was the relationship of Poppy and her best friend, a porcupine named Ereth.
I am a third grade teacher and though the story would probably hold the attention of a 8-10 year old, I would be hesitant to recommend the book to one of my students because of some questionable language. Though there weren't curse words, the word "freaking" was used frequently. I think with all the other bad influences in the world today, our literature may not be the best place to introduce this type of language or encourage its use. I am all for the use of cultural language, even if there is a "bad" word now and then, but to write "freaking" in a children's book just to have it appear in the dialogue didn't sit well with me.
I would only give this book a 3 star rating.