January 1, 2008
Mom vetoes a puppy, so Babymouse settles for a hamster, who quickly escapes. Hammy is followed by a turtle, ferret, salamander, etc.--all of whom vamoose. A stray dog gives our unlucky-with-pets heroine the chance to redeem herself. Babymouse's daydreams and (mis)adventures, shown in the loose-handed, pink-tinged illustrations, are as silly and sassy as ever in this eighth book about her.
(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
January 1, 2008
When Goldy #5 goes belly-up, Babymouse is dead set against owning "another dumb fish." Mom vetoes a puppy, so Babymouse settles for a hamster instead. In record time, Hammy escapes. (His new owner, uh, left his cage open.) Hammy is soon followed by a turtle, a ferret, a salamander, and so on -- and all vamoose with lightning speed. Where, oh where, have they gone? Babymouse never finds out, but readers do, thanks to the loose-handed, pink-tinged illustration showing the missing animals cavorting beneath a disco ball under Babymouse's bed. A stray dog gives our unlucky-with-pets heroine the chance to redeem herself, and she trains Buddy with the "biscuit method" -- la Pavlov -- to sit, fetch, scrub, bake, and even calculate. Babymouse's success amazes everyone, including the dog's real owner, who, at book's end, strolls off into the sunset with "Lady." (Oops, Buddy's a girl!) Babymouse's daydreams and (mis)adventures are as silly as ever, but it's her interactions with the buttinsky narrator that make for some of the funniest sequences. When the narrator scoffs at the name Hammy, Babymouse retorts, "All right, smarty-pants. What would you name him?" "How about 'the handsome narrator'?" is the sassy reply.
(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)