By Richard Peck
Illustrator Kelly Murphy
4Rbooks: 3/6, grades 3-6
Amazon rating: 4.5/5, grades 3-7
Good Reads: 3.58/5
Common Sense Media: ages 8+
Pages 229
Synopsis:
Minor Mouse, as he is known throughout the mouse community, has had a difficult life. He is called Minor Mouse because he is small, and seemingly has no name. He doesn’t know his parents and was raised by his aunt, the head seamstress. He doesn’t like school and is bullied by classmates. He has one wish, to meet the queen and see if she has any ideas of his origins.
One day he runs away from school, and this starts an adventure he never could have imagined. It includes help from a cat, a ride on a horse, a job as a guard, a mousenapping, twice, by bats, a bath in strawberry punch, and finally, the desired audience of the queen. Does she have the answers he is looking for, and what will he find out about his true lineage and family.
Parental Guidance: low
Minor Mouse is bullied at school.
Minor Mouse finds himself in a few dangerous situations.
Recommendation:
This is a companion book to Secrets at Sea but not a true sequel. Like the first novel, this has some cute moments, but is a slow read, especially for children who like faster paced adventures. The details would make one assume it would be adventurous, but the pace is ponderous at times. It also has many details about royal life that may only be interesting to some children. Sensitive readers who enjoy stories about animals should like this book. It has some similar elements to The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo, but not as fun. That was a book hard to put down, this, not so much.
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