Sarah Dillard

Young mouse Violet is excited to be promoted from Buttercup to Mouse Scout, but she is wary of her new troop leader and letting her down. The first project the Mouse Scouts have to do is create and tend a vegetable garden, but the mice find out it is harder work than they anticipated.

On the whole this book is cute. The Mouse Scouts conceit will be easily recognizable to its human counterpart of Girl Scouts, and I think those involved in scouting will like it as a result. It's also super cute show more to see how the little mice use human things for their own purposes. For example, they utilize plastic spoons as shovels for the garden. I personally love seeing things made tiny, and this aspect of the book reminded me of the Borrowers book series that I adored as a child. The parts about gardening are surprisingly informative, which is another thing in the plus column for this title.

On the flip side, the adult part of me was nitpicking and found some elements off-putting. One mouse is ever so slightly chubbier than the others, and while the author doesn't come right out and fat shame her, there's a lot of references to her constantly sneaking a snack. Another mouse likes reading and of course wears glasses; there are also mentions of this mouse having some "sensitivities" (aka allergies) that come across as sounding a bit flippant toward this medical problem. Lastly, there's a few odd references to lab mice as though this is a great honor, although this opens up a whole can of worms that is far beyond the scope of this book.

Black-and-white pencil drawings are scattered throughout the book and make a nice break from the text, although they are not strictly necessary as they don't add much to the story. I personally would not continue with reading this series, but I can see young readers getting into it. show less

First sentence: Once there was a chicken. Just an ordinary, average, run-of-the-mill chicken. He lived in a little barnyard on a quiet farm. His name was Warren.

Premise/plot: Warren is a chicken who does not want to be ordinary. However, in his quest to be extraordinary--or supreme, as the case may be--he's a bit gullible and naive. Will Warren (and the other chicks and chickens) be safe in the barnyard?

My thoughts: I enjoyed this early graphic novel chapter book. Did I love, love, love it? show more Maybe not that enthusiastically. But I enjoyed it--solidly. I don't regret my time. I liked getting to know Warren and Egg. show less

The grass is always greener (and the weather's always better)...

As the seasons change from summer to fall to winter, a little rabbit wishes for snow...but when it comes, it's too much, and the rabbit is buried up to its ears! Now the rabbit wishes for the snow to stop...but when spring comes, the rabbit wishes it would snow again. A perfect winter book - but equally perfect if you're wishing for snow in summer.

A humorous graphic novel series for children about a chick named Warren and his many adventures. I found this to be an excellent series to start children on novels and chapter books. It is an easy and fun read with hilarious chicken and egg related humor throughout that I think children would find entertaining.