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.
