Babymouse Queen of the World

Babymouse Queen of the World

Bibliographic Information: Holm, Jennifer L., and Matthew Holm. Babymouse: queen of the world! New York: Random House Children's Books, 2005.

Plot Summary:

Babymouse is a typical young girl *mouse that wants to have fun, fit in, and dreams of being the Queen of the World!  Babymouse is not the most popular girl in school, but she does have a best friend, Wilson the Weasel. She discovers that she can always count on Wilson as a real friend.  Babymouse hears that one of the cool kids-Felicia Furrypaws is having a slumber party. As soon as Babymouse hears about the party she thinks will be so mush fun she is dying to go.    Unfortunately, it is the same night Babymouse promised to watch a monster movie with Wilson.  Babymouse doesn't get an invitation but decides she will do whatever it takes to go to that party.

 Babymouse decides that it is worth it to miss the movie with Wilson and she is sure he will understand.  Babymouse writes an essay for Felicia Furrypaws in exchange for an invitation to the party.  While Babymouse is at the party, she is miserable.  She realizes that Felicia is a user and she is mean.  Babymouse decides she doesn't need to give up a true friendship for Felicia and leaves the party to spend time with her real friend that makes her feel like she is the queen of the world.

Critical Analysis:

Babymouse is a graphic novel that is like a realistic fiction story because Babymouse is a character that any girl in school can relate to.  Babymouse isn’t happy that her whiskers are always curly.  Any girl is going to find something that they wish they could change about themselves.  The plot of the book is realistic.  Everyone wants to be a part of the popular crowd and get invited to the cool kid’s party.  I love that Babymouse discovers that real friendship is worth more than just the appearance of being popular. 

The authors have a distinctive style with basic black, white, and sprinkles of pink for the illustrations.  Throughout the story, Babymouse has daydreams such as the one when she imagines herself as "Wild Baby Mouse" and wants to invite the other girls at the party to play a game of hearts in an old west scene.  These original daydream scenes do an excellent job of showing the emotion of Babymouse while adding some extra creativity to the storyline.

Babymouse Queen of the World is just the first in the Babymouse series with over 19 graphic novels in it.  Babymouse is a winner for elementary to middle school readers because it is a fun, easy to read and smart story that readers of all levels will enjoy.

Awards and Review Excerpts:

From Booklist

Gr. 4-6. In this energetic comic by a brother-sister team (Jennifer's Our Only May Amelia was a Newbery Honor Book), Babymouse, a wise-cracking rodent stand-in for your average, adventure-seeking nine-year-old, strives to capture favorite Felicia's goodwill, finally achieving her end at the expense of Wilson Weasel, truest of friends. But, wouldn't you know it, Felicia's world has little to offer a smart, fun-loving mouse, after all. The Holms spruce up some well-trod ground with breathless pacing and clever flights of Babymouse's imagination, and their manic, pink-toned illustrations of Babymouse and her cohorts vigorously reflect the internal life of any million-ideas-a-minute middle-school student. Jesse Karp
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Here's what people are saying about Babymouse!

The Chicago Sun-Times:
"Move over, Superman, here comes Babymouse!"

Starred Review, The Horn Book:
"Nobody puts Babymouse in the corner!"

Booklist:
"Cute, smart, sassy Babymouse is fun and funny, and this book, like its predecessors, will draw reluctant readers as well as Babymouse fans."

The Bulletin:
"An almost absurdly likeable heroine."

Connections:

Pull other graphic novels in the Babymouse series:

Babymouse Our Hero ISBN: 0375832300

Babymouse Beach Babe ISBN: 0375832319

Babymouse Rock Star ISBN: 0375832319

Pull other graphic novels by Jennifer Holm:

Squish ISBN: 0375843892

Brave New Pond ISBN: 0375843906

Sunny Side Up ISBN: 0545741653

Have students create one strip of a comic that could go in a graphic novel about their life experience at school.

Have students visit the website for the Babymouse series at http://www.jenniferholm.com/02_mybooks/11_babymouse.html

Have students create a poster or a bookmark about the importance of friendship.

Have students look for references to other literature in Babymouse’s daydreams.

References:

Jennifer Holm (Author), {"isAjaxInProgress_B000APG1MG":"0","isAjaxComplete_B000APG1MG":"0"} Matthew Holm (Author) › Visit Amazon's Matthew Holm Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central Matthew Holm (Author). "Babymouse #1: Queen of the World! Paperback – December 27, 2005." Babymouse #1: Queen of the World!: Jennifer Holm, Matthew Holm: 9780375832291: Amazon.com: Books. Accessed April 24, 2017. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375832297?_encoding=UTF8&isInIframe=0&n=283155&ref_=dp_proddesc_0&s=books&showDetailProductDesc=1#product-description_feature_div.