This book is about a little mouse that does not heed the warnings of the older mice. I'm not a fan of poetry in general so take this review with an entire shaker of salt. Although the verse is well done and nonsense words make the book amusing to read aloud, I feel that the overworked prose makes the book hard to follow and understand. ( )

I'm not sure what to think of this. The text is creative, energetic, begs to be read-aloud. The illustrations are Barry Moser's usual good quality - engaging and pretty. However:

It's about a little mouse who makes a narrow escape from death while trying to be bold and explorative.

So, yes, it's true that mice should be timid. But since children are accustomed to learning about *themselves* via animals, with this picture-book we'd be teaching children to stay in line, mind their place, and forget about having adventures. Is that what we *want* to teach them? ( )

I tremendously enjoyed this creative Caldecott Honor book.

This is a delightful story of a young mouse who loves living without rules. When the full moon occurs, The mouse named "Jam Boy" throws caution to the wind and delights in calling attention to himself by not following the pack.

There is a twisting of words, and it takes time to go with the flow, but soon I was laughing at the expressions on the faces of the mice and the rhyming catchy phrases.

Ostracized by the elder mice and banished to go home while the rest of the pack scampers together under a bright full moon, Jam Boy just cannot help himself, and all too soon he is back to his wayward ways.

"Shuns every warning, jumps the fence!
Jamagination in a flurry:
"I won't scamper! I won't scurry!
A clever mousling need not worry."

Furry overconfidence.

And, in his overconfidence, there is danger not only to him, but to the others.

Alone, he sits in the full moon, long tail lazily in the water and then, so full of himself, he does not hear the impending hissing warning of a snake approaching. This defining moment changes him.

33 months - I'm on the fence as to what rating to give this book. O seemed glued and the title and imagery are great. I found myself stumbling over the words on occasion and the word choice is rather adult for a kids book. On occasion I would stop to explain a word the first time we read it. However on later reads I found if I read with a lot of expression and proper rhythm that understanding every word became less important and that the meaning was still clear. I love books that expand vocabulary but this one might be a little too much.

I loved the pictures in this book. It has rhyme and rhythm. I guess it is a "Moral" story--the idea being to listen to your elders. The author used a lot of new-made up words that I believe kids would love, words like, inbetwiddle and mousling and riskrascal however there were so many I felt they might be confusing if one is trying to teach real words.