Bibliography
Holm, J. L. & Holm, M. 2005. BabyMouse. New York, NY: Random House Children’s Books. ISBN 9780375832291
Plot Summary
Babymouse started her day the same as always: an uneventful and boring life at home and school. No matter what she had or who she was, Babymouse wished for a more exciting life as Queen of the world, regardless of her family and best friend, Wilson, and imagines stories and fairy tales with herself in them to make her life more exciting. This excitement grows as she tries to be friends with Felicia Furrpaw, the most popular girl in school and, to Babymouse, a true Queen. Babymouse soon learns that Felicia is having a slumber party, and even though it is on the same night that she and Wilson had planned to watch a monster movie together, Babymouse decides to do whatever she can to be invited to Felicia’s party instead. Babymouse becomes infatuated with trying to get an invitation that she finally goes as far as giving Felicia her book report for class. Wilson finds out about this and walks away from Babymouse, leaving her to realize that this idea may not have been a good one after all. Instead of the skydiving, go-kart racing, and scuba-diving expectations she had had before arriving to the party, Babymouse finds nothing but a couple of other girls gossiping with Felicia. After hearing a mean comment from one of the girls and a booming thunder from outside, Babymouse imagines a fantasy where Felicia is a monster. This helps Babymouse realize that Felicia isn’t a good person nor a queen after all and soon begins to wonder what Wilson could be doing instead. In an instant, with her “tasty cupcakes,” “sassy style,” “exciting books,” and “good friends,” Babymouse has an epiphany and sees that she already is a queen and decides that she is not taking orders from Felicia anymore, leaving the party and joining Wilson just in time for their monster movie night.
Critical Analysis
Many aspects of “Babymouse” help make this book an obvioius graphic novel, such as the vibrant colors, the comic book-esque page layouts, and the usage of onomatopoeias. An obvious visual aspect that the reader can see just by opening the book is the layout of the story, with text boxes, illustrations in every page, and bubbles for dialogue or thoughts.This comic book style is reinforced with the usage of many onomatopoeias within the book, creating a graphic novel experience for the reader. Also, when the main character of the story is bored or disappointed with her life, she imagines herself in different stories or scenarios. These episodes transition well from the real-world experiences and her imaginary stories with clear color changes. For instance, while Babymouse begins imagining herself in a Cinderella-like story while cleaning Felicia Furrpaws’ kitchen, the pages’ background color begins to transition from white to pink. This color change occurs frequently throughout the novel to help the reader visually understand changes from Babymouse’s reality and her imagination. Although this book may be geared towards a young female audience due to a young, female protagonist and a vibrant, glittered pink cover, readers of all ages could enjoy this book because of the message it brings to the readers of recognizing and appreciating who you are and what you have in your life.
Review Excerpt(s)
- Kirkus Review: “Young readers will happily fall in line to follow Babymouse through both ordinary pratfalls ("Typical!" is her watchword) and extraordinary flights of fancy" (May 20, 2010).
Connections
- Students can do a writing assignment and write about being a true friend/ what friendship means to them.
- Since this story is ultimately about loving yourself, students can create a comic/ write about what they love about themselves.
- Teacher can begin reading this comic to a class, stopping at different parts of the story and students can infer what they think will happen next.
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