Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Babymouse Queen of the world by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

If you love Olivia, Eloise, Junie B Jones and Billie B Brown then you must meet Babymouse. There are more than ten Babymouse graphic novels beginning with Babymouse Queen of the world! We currently have four from the series in our school library.

Babymouse is the quintessential outsider but she has big dreams. Once you realize her dreams are the pink sequences in these junior novels you will be able to sit back and enjoy the ride.

In Babymouse Queen of the world, Babymouse is desperate to be cool, to be like Felicia Furrypaws. Babymouse discovers Felicia is having a slumber party. How can Babymouse obtain an invitation? She tries food – cupcakes, she tries giving Felicia a brand new book, she tells Felicia a joke but none of these things work. Then comes the day the students need to hand in their book reports. We already know Babymouse is a keen reader, she has a huge pile of fabulous books beside her bed, she would prefer to read than do her homework and Babymouse is a library user as evidenced by her late library book which is trapped inside her locker – the door keeps getting stuck. Babymouse is faced with a dilemma similar to the one we read about in Billie B brown The second Best Friend. She can hand Felicia her book report and gain an invitation to the slumber party but what will she say to Wilson her best friend? He is expecting her to come over for a movie night.

My favourite scene in Babymouse Queen of the world is when Babymouse tries to decide what to wear to the slumber party. “She had to find the perfect outfit”. It made me think of Olivia trying on all those clothes.

I have read so many glowing reviews of the Babymouse series. The are filled with gentle humor and perfect endings. I think adults and younger readers would enjoy reading the Babymouse books together. There are so many references to movies, fairytales, everyday life and these are sure to make you smile.

My favourite in the series so far is Babymouse cupcake tycoon because it is about the library! Babymouse accidentally causes a huge flood and so all the students need to get on with some fundraising to replace the books by selling cupcakes. The student who sells the most cupcakes will win a fabulous prize. If you are interested in exploring a wide variety of advertising techniques with your students you should look no further than Babymouse Cupcake tycoon.

You can see a fabulous little video about the creators of Babymouse. Also Babymouse has a great web site but be warned the music might drive you crazy. I think students in Grades three and up will enjoy the Babymouse books. You can also read a great review here of another title from the series.

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