Peggy Gifford

I liked the layout of this book very much. I loved the photos and thought that the short chapters could be used to tell a great story. However, the main character (Moxy herself) is a colossal brat! Right up there with Allie Finkle! What is it with authors these days? I can't recall a single series from my childhood that centered around a god-awful brat who never suffers any consequences. It used to be that the bratty kid was always the antagonist who (with the exception of DW) learned his or show more her lesson by the end of the story/series. Is this change a reflection of the times? As someone who hopes to one day bring children into this world, I hope not. :/ show less

Children's Books Too Cool For School

Sunny Lea does not love Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little. I mean, I liked it, but love isn't quite the word I could apply to a book that gives so little to love. I don't mean that there's nothing to love about it, or even that everything that is there isn't love-able. Well, to keep it short, I'm trying to say that Moxy Maxwell (etc, etc) is short. Very. There aren't a lot of short stories in this world that inspire deep feelings from me. I like show more big, meaty novels in my "grown up" reading for instance, that give me a lot to work with. Multi-generational sagas are always bound to catch my attention. And, once you reduce the font, work out the whitespace, and get rid of the adorably illustrative, but not particularly necessary photographs, Moxy M. (etc, etc) reveals itself to be something like a short story. Add the photos back in, and it might be fair to call it a picture book for middle-graders.

Moxy Maxwell is facing the immanent return to school after a nice summer break, and she has just one last task to do: read Stuart Little -- all 144 pages of it. Of course, Moxy means to get down to business right away. Her mother promises, if she does not, there will be consequences. Like not getting to perform as a daisy petal in her water ballet. So, Moxy gets to work right away... cleaning her room. She can't be expected to settle in and read Stuart Little -- all 144 pages of it -- in a messy room, can she? One thing leads to another, and Moxy does have an awful lot of things she needs to do (train the dog, plant a peach orchard), and she never quite actually begins reading Stuart Little. Uh-oh. Will she now have to face the consequences?

Moxy is a charming little girl. Spunky and full of ideas -- not the she ever completely follows through on any of them. As a character, despite the grandeur of her delusions, she rings very true. Readers will snicker at Moxy, and probably squirm a bit in self-recognition. After all, who among us has never put off a task? The photos are great, supposedly taken by Moxy's twin brother Max, and document the story in a way that is probably more interesting than the usual small line drawings.

However, because Moxy is so charming, because she rings so true, and because the whole package was so delightful, I am left a little disappointed. Perhaps I'm greedy, but I just couldn't help wanting more. So while I cannot Love Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little, I can like it. And I do... a lot.

Girl-heroine and daisy swimsuit aside, Moxy could actually have very broad appeal, and is best for procrastinating middle-schoolers like Moxy herself. The relative shortness of the story should appeal to those ever-elusive reluctant readers. Ages 8 - 11 or so. show less

In which a brief review is made regarding the book’s merit as children’s literature and in which the book is not compared to Stuart Little.

For the entire summer, Stuart Little (a mere 144 page mouse of a book) has been the albatross around Moxy Maxwell’s neck. Stuart Little was assigned as Moxy’s summer reading. Moxy’s teacher, Mr. Flamingo, plans to quiz the incoming fourth graders over the book’s content on the first day of school (which, incidentally, is tomorrow…nothing show more like waiting until the last minute).

Fortunately, Moxy does love to read. Unfortunately, Moxy does not love to be told what to read. While her twin brother Mark finished Stuart Little immediately at summer’s glorious beginning, Moxy has left her own reading for summer’s uncelebrated end (although there does happen to be an impending celebration Moxy is hoping to attend…).

Really, though, Moxy has tried. Her copy has gone with her everywhere. It even looks read (being a little worse for the wear due to contact with pool water and lemonade), but the book remains indubitably unread as the final day to complete the assignment begins.

In Moxy’s purview, she’s not not reading it, it’s just that the book is a perfect fit for those in-between moments (of which her mother points out, Moxy has very few). Moxy is a busy nine-year-old with commitments–she keeps quite busy perfecting her part of the eight flower petal synchronized swimming team, training dogs, and cleaning her room—not to mention finding time for constructing brilliant pay-for-college and establish a career path peach growing plans on the side.

The last straw for her mother is the accidental drowning of her prizewinning Dahlias; the last straw for Moxy is facing her mother’s “consequences”–it’s bye-bye to the “Goodbye to Summer Splash” party for Moxy. Instead of a party and cake, it’s Stuart Little and graham crackers for Moxy on the eve of the new school year. At long last (and in the nick of time), Moxy grits her teeth and opens Stuart Little, and she is pleasantly surprised with what she finds inside (much like readers who pick up Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little will be).

Moxy Maxwell Does Not love Stuart Little takes readers right along through the whole of D-Day and through Moxy’s feelings about mandated reading (something which many young readers will easily relate to). Moxy’s story is a quick read—the chapters are short (some being less than one page long) and numerous photographs with captions are interspersed to break up the text. The photographs are ostensibly the result of Mark’s documentation of Moxy’s struggle with Stuart Little, and they support the story’s action.

The concise text and the generous photographs make this a perfect pick for reluctant or struggling readers. Perhaps Moxy would even enjoy reading her book, that is, at least, if you did not force her to do so. While Moxy Maxwell may not start out loving Stuart Little (and in the end she finds out she does), Peggy Gifford and Valorie Fisher have nonetheless written a paean to reading, children’s literature, and perhaps even to the continued joys of reading classics like Stuart Little (although perhaps not so much to required reading). Plus, Moxy’s great energy and big plans may encourage readers to believe in themselves and their own dreams. show less

Moxy Maxwell had a great Christmas. She got lots of nice gifts and soon she and her brother Mark are going to Hollywood to spend a whole week with their dad! Moxy and Mark haven't seen him in three years, so Moxy is understandably looking forward to it. Not to mention her plans for being "discovered" and catapulting into superstardom while she's there.

There's only one problem with this plan. Mrs. Maxwell says that Moxy has to get her thank-you notes written before she leaves for California. show more Moxy has twelve thank-you notes to write. And it's not that she's not grateful. She is. It's just that it's so much work.

This sequel to Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little goes a little deeper than the first book. We see more of Moxy and her family, including her unreliable father. As the book progresses we see that Moxy's dad has canceled on her Christmas visits the past two years. Mark is a little more realistic and tries to prepare himself for the disappointment that might come. But Moxy is totally counting on this visit, looking forward to it with all her might. And in the end we'll find that Moxy does have someone she can count on... but it might not be who she thinks. show less