BABYMOUSE

BABYMOUSE by Jennifer L. Holm 

Jennifer L. Holm is a gifted storyteller and is praised and loved for her success with her pink graphic novel series, BABYMOUSE. A Newbery Award winning author and three time recipient for the Newbery Honor, Jennifer Holm created a story that focuses on the life of a young female mouse and her life at home and in the halls at school. Much of the story revolves around the life of young mousling who is trying to fit in at school. She wants to be popular, pretty and essentially queen of the world but will she ever fit in and befriend the inner circle of the popular crowd? While this story is a great way to promote early literacy for young readers, the message it sends to young readers is superficial at times.

      BABYMOUSE spends most her time compensating for the like of beauty, glamour, excitement and adventure in her daily life by mentally believing herself to being Queen of the World, prettiest or most popular girl at school. While everyone is certainly concerned where they socially stand in school, so many books appropriate for tween readers seem to be saturated in the same themes of popularity, striving for perfection and being famous. While I enjoyed reading BABYMOUSE, I was left feeling like I had read the story before. With the market for tween books focused on such a narrow topic, are these series and graphic novels becoming unhealthy for our kids to read?