Thursday, April 16, 2009

Tumtum and Nutmeg: Adventures Beyond Nutmouse Hall by Emily Bearn - OPTIONAL

Bearn, Emily Tumtum and Nutmeg: Adventures Beyond Nutmouse Hall by Emily Bearn, pgs. 512 Little, Brown Young Readers

Content~G

EL – OPTIONAL 

Tumtum and Nutmeg are a gentle mice couple who live in the broom closet of Rose Cottage. The humans who live in Rose Cottage consist of a single father who is an eccentric inventor and his two children. The father is absentminded when it comes to his children so the mice decide to help out. They begin to make nightly visits to the children’s attic room to make repairs and to spruce up the place.

Bearn, in an attempt to bring to readers new stories in the style of Wind in the Willows and the Tales of Beatrix Potter, fails to capture the charm and staying power of those classics. This disappointing, overly long novel takes this cast of characters on three different adventures. I think that the publisher would have had better luck publishing these as three individual stories. The reading level of these stories is more advanced than the age of the audience that would enjoy them. The stories may improve on being read aloud.

Allison Madsen~Teen Librarian-SJO Public Library 

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