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?

Dying to Meet You

Dying to Meet You

43 Old Cemetery Road

            After reading the first in the series of 43 Old Cemetery Road, I couldn’t help myself but go and find more books in the series. I absolutely fell in love with the characters in the first book, Dying to Meet You written by Kate Klise. The series revolves around an old dilapidated Victorian home that is supposedly haunted by an old ghost. In the first of the series, Mr. Ignatius Grumply needs to find residence for a few months so he can overcome his writers block and write his newest novel which is a part of a series. Not knowing much about the old Spence Mansion in Ghastly, Illinois, Mr. Grumply takes the home and soon realizes funny and peculiar things are going on inside the house. Not willing to listen to the real estate agent, He meets Seymour the child of famous paranormal professors who left their son in the house while they went on tour in Europe. Mr. Grumply finally learns and befriends Seymour and the ghost in residence.

            If there’s one thing I’ve learned in working with children is that they love ghost stories. Dying to Meet You is an excellent graphic novel that combines both graphics and a fun and haunting story. Like previously mentioned graphic novels are a fun way to help children become engaged readers if they don’t necessarily enjoy reading for pleasure. Combine illustrations and a spooky tale, children will immediately be hooked with this series. Although not necessarily from the prospective of Seymour (the young boy who lives in the Spence Mansion with Mr. Grumply), using his character and his best friend who happens to be a cat makes the story more fun and light hearted for children. 

(image via pinterest)