Month: August 2024

Warning for immediate SPOILERS, if you haven’t read the series.

This is (so far) the last book in the series about mice in Dimwood forest. And it starts with another gut punch- the mice are struggling through a difficult, cold winter, when Poppy’s husband Rye goes outside and catches a chill. He gets sick and dies, in just the first few pages. Poppy is so sad she retreats into solitude- doesn’t want visits from any of her numerous children or grandchildren, or her best friend that grumpy porcupine Ereth. So Ereth takes it quite personally. He’s worried and upset, has this sort of existential crisis which galvanizes him into wanting to change. To become something he never was. For Poppy’s sake somehow. He tries to make himself smile (and it creeps everyone out, because it’s so unlike him and looks forced), and give up swearing (though his creative swears were the funniest part of the books! So- he goes down to the creek to wash himself off (another new resolution) and instead gets stuck in the mud (it’s been a very hot dry season, no water in the creek) and screams for help. Poppy nearby is jolted out of her ruminating and comes running and immediately problem-solves. Long story short, she manages to use weight to lower a branch within the porcupine’s reach, but when he frees himself and then lets go, she’s still on it. She gets catapulted into the sky.

And here’s where the story really begins. Ereth has trouble comprehending what happened with Poppy’s sudden disappearance. He decides that she must have died and tells all her relatives and determines to make a funeral service honoring her- against quite a few protests and disbelief. One of the young mice, a grandson to Poppy, thinks she learned how to fly on purpose and needs help to find her way home, so he goes off alone to do that (none of the other youngsters will join him). Meanwhile Poppy herself has survived the accident, and ended up in a remote cave with a bunch of bats. She quickly finds out that all her prejudices against bats were wrong, and they are startled and delighted to have a visitor from the outside world. Poppy makes new friends, bravely climbs some heights, sees a lot of natural wonders in the cave, and decides she’s not too old to have adventures and discover new things after all. She gets help from the bats to return home, but first has to confront and escape a fox who has been her natural enemy from the very beginning. When she finally does start to make her way home, there’s a new threat to face- forest fire! All the animals are at risk, terrified and dismayed at the destruction. Poppy finds that enemies can actually be helpful in moments of crisis, that her new friends would pull together to save everyone, and that the forest can regrow.

Another very fun and entertaining story with some good messages if you read between the lines. Some parts felt a little contrived- like how the forest fire actually got started- and the idea of enemies realizing they can cease hostilities and find amity in times of duress, isn’t a new concept but it was presented here quite cleverly and convincing. I thought it was pretty funny how Ereth tried to change his tune and then went right back to his old self after Poppy was found alive and well (he reminded me of Oscar the Grouch). The author says this is the last of her Dimwood forest series, but I wonder if there might eventually be another- the ending certainly left it open for more adventures, as some of the mice moved to new locales after the fire, and others came back to start over when the new growth appeared. And there’s a metaphor in there, too, but I didn’t feel hit over the head with it. This book did have a lot of repetitive material, reminding the reader of all the major events and characters from previous books, but it was well done I thought. It didn’t feel like an info-dump rehash, instead the characters reminded each other of past events, in a manner that felt quite natural. I missed hearing what happened to the skunk, though. I thought he would be a character here, but he isn’t even mentioned.

Borrowed from the public library.

Poppy is content with her life, living with her loving husband, her many children, near her close friend Ereth the porcupine. But she’s troubled about one child, her son Junior who doesn’t tell her where he’s going, does rebellious things like dye his fur different colors, and has questionable friends (a skunk). This seems her biggest problem, until surprise! her sister arrives with news that their elderly mouse father is ill. Poppy has been summoned to his bedside. She decides to take Junior along on the journey, hoping that maybe it will bring them closer together, and he refuses to go without Mephitis (his skunk friend) and then Ereth invites himself along too. So the five set off in a rather odd group- at first the two young ones hang back laughing and being rude, Poppy frets to Ereth about Junior’s behavior, and her sister makes it clear that she doesn’t approve of the way Poppy has been living out here in the forest. Stuff happens on the journey that does change some of their feelings for each other, though not always positive (Poppy and her sister have more differences of opinion).

When they finally arrive at the old broken-down farmhouse where Poppy’s natal family lives, she sees at once what some of the problems are- the house is way overcrowded (very reminiscent of what occurred in the first book of the series) and there’s a bulldozer parked outside, humans have been seen coming and going. The mice are all afraid the house is going to be demolished. What’s shocking is that they want Poppy to stop it from happening. Poppy herself is appalled at her reception- all the mice clamoring for her to do something, her father putting her on a pedestal as the one who will save the day and take up leadership. Which she didn’t ask for, and won’t accept. Junior is taken aback to hear everyone praising Poppy’s past deeds (which he’d never heard of) and uneasy at how others will react to him- but the young mice admire him and want to copy what he does, and a clever thing he tells the old leader mouse puts him in the grandfather’s good graces. It’s a bit harder to navigate the meeting between all Poppy’s mouse relatives and the skunk and porcupine- one is feared because of the grandfather’s inane prejudices, the other simple shunned because he smells bad. I was really impressed at what this book did, blending a fine adventure story with endearing and funny characters, a recalcitrant teenager and a loner (the skunk) and the uppity sister mouse all providing different contrasts. It addressed a lot of issues I didn’t expect to see in a children’s story about talking animals- getting along with family, parenting a difficult child, meeting other’s expectations, returning home to visit relatives who disapprove of what you’ve done with your life. I really liked that in the end, two of the biggest misfits in the series (well, at least they always felt themselves to be something of outcasts) ended up becoming good friends. It was very like Elmore and Pinky, and that made me smile.

Oh, and if you’re wondering, Poppy didn’t exactly save the old house from destruction. The rebellious and rude ones she had brought along actually precipitated its destruction, but then the mouse population realized that when their situation was changed, everything was actually better. I didn’t expect it to end like that and I really liked it.

Borrowed from the public library.