Babymouse Isn’t Just for Babies

When choosing my series books to read for this class, I was instantly drawn to the Babymouse series by Jennifer L. Holm. Sure I could have read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series because my brother has every book, but I have actually read them all already. To be quite honest, the reason I chose the Babymouse series was because I had already read the first one when it first came out (I must have been eleven at the time). To me, this seems a bit embarrassing because it seems like such an easy read (and yes, it is) and it definitely is at a much lower reading level than and eleven year old should be reading, but I was drawn to its fun colors and cute characters. I read the first book, Babymouse: Queen of the World, so many times it is ridiculous. So to satisfy my inner eleven year old I had to choose Babymouse as my series books. I picked up the sequel, Babymouse: Our Hero and the third book, Babymouse: Beach Babe. 

The Sequel is a cute story about Babymouse not wanting to play dodgeball because the last time she did she lost and was embarrassed. The third book is about Babymouse going on a vacation to the beach and she doesn’t have fun because she is playing by herself (and wont play with her younger brother) but once she realizes that her little brother is her best playmate they do everything together. Looking at the stories now, I can see why I liked the Babymouse book so much even at eleven years old. Babymouse stories are full of life lessons and relatable situations for children. Even now I was smiling reading the Beach Babe book because I could relate. My younger brother is my best friend! Sure we don’t do as much together anymore, but we came up with games, stories, art, basically everything together growing up. I thought that it was a sweet story.

Another aspect of this series that I really like is the use of imagination. Babymouse has moments where her mind takes her to another world. She becomes a ‘mermouse’, an inmate, Peter Pan, and several other characters throughout each story. I think this is wonderful because I feel like it encourages the reader to really use their own imagination like this after they finish the book.

I also really like the use of color in these books. Yes, it is all pink, black, and white. However, I think this use of color is what attracted me to this series in the first place at the age of eleven. Little girls (and I’m sure little boys too!) love pink cutesy girly things. I think this design choice was a great one that really encourages girly girls to read!

I think the purpose of this series is to give the reader a little life lesson in a fun/funny way. The dodgeball one talks about courage and facing your fears, and the beach one is about realizing that your sibling is your best friend. While I understand that older students will not be challenged by the reading, I do think that the life lessons (infused with a little whimsy and humor of course) are important ones that can be beneficial to nearly all age ranges.