Queen of the World!

December 12, 2005
Jennifer Holm (Our Only May Amelia
) and her brother Matthew Holm, a graphic designer, make an incursion on Captain Underpants
territory with these comic books about a girl mouse. Both tales share eye-grabbing black-and-pink graphics, and a perceptible Spiegelman influence simmers in the energetic ink illustrations of the dot-eyed heroine. Queen of the World!
introduces Babymouse and her nemesis, a popular cat named Felicia Furrypaws. Babymouse desperately wants an invitation to Felicia's slumber party (which she feels could confer "queen" status), although her best friend Wilson the Weasel expects her to watch monster movies with him that night. Fantasy sequences testify to Babymouse's reading habit and active imagination: in one reverie, she's Babymouserella, transformed into a princess by "fairy godweasel" Wilson, but undone by Felicia on the way to the ball ("In 'Cinderella,' the mouse pulls the carriage. Duh!"). A sequel, Our Hero
, centers on a gym class where unathletic Babymouse faces dodgeball whiz Felicia. Before the competition, Babymouse daydreams of boot camp, stomps on her antagonist as "Babymousezilla" and indulges in a Peter Pan sequence where a combined Felicia-Hook makes her walk the plank into the jaws of a crocodile (who doubles as the gym teacher). The Holms make humorous allusions to novels and movies, and interject sympathetic remarks from an offstage narrator. This personable, self-conscious mouse, with her penchant for pink hearts, resembles Kevin Henkes's Lilly, with some extra years of grade-school experience. Ages 7-10.

March 1, 2006
Gr 2-5 -Several things are clear about Babymouse, as evidenced from the cover art -she -s adorable and she loves pink. Luckily, as further pages reveal, she is also smart, spunky, and a tad sarcastic. In "Our Hero", Babymouse must face her greatest fear -dodgeball. Felicia Furrypaws has the quickest throw in school and targets a certain mouse. Babymouse must also tackle her second fear, math. In "Queen", she tries everything she can think of to get an invitation to Felicia Furrypaws -s slumber party. Meanwhile, she avoids her mouse-eating locker, dreams of being a queen (whose idea of luxury is a plateful of books), and solves a mystery. Finally, handing over her homework results in the coveted invitation, but the party doesn -t turn out as she had hoped. In both books, the hilarious black-and-white illustrations are splashed with pink. Babymouse has a distinct voice and is a real charmer." -Sadie Mattox, DeKalb County Public Library, Decatur, GA"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2005
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 popular 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. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)