| Name (First Name, Last Initial) |
| Ethan K |
| Age |
| 8 |
| Book Title |
| Ragweed |
| Author(s) |
| Avi |
| Genre |
| Fantasy |
| What is the setting of the book? |
| It starts in the country, but then goes to a city called Amperville. It’s all in the real world, but the animals can talk to each other. Amperville has a lot of mice; it also has an organization of two cats called F.E.A.R. (Felines Enraged About Rodents), composed of Silversides and Graybar. |
| Who is/are the main character(s)? What are they like? |
| Ragweed is a golden mouse from the country. He is very friendly, but when F.E.A.R. tries to destroy mice, he wants to fight them instead of running to the emergency exit. He wants a life of adventure. |
| What is the conflict of the story? |
| Ragweed has a choice of going to Dimwood Forest or to the city, Amperville. When he gets off the train, he is confronted by the cat Silversides, president of F.E.A.R. But a mouse named Clutch (a car part; all of the city mice are named after car parts) saves his life by bringing him into her house, an old car in Mousetown (which is a run-down place in Amperville). Ragweed sees the destruction of one mouse club (where the mice get together and dance), but he starts a new one in an old bookstore that is safe from any attack of cats. So the conflict is about these mice trying to protect their lives from the cats. |
| What was the conclusion of the book? |
| Ragweed’s friend Blinker, a house mouse from Silversides’ house, is pounced on by Silversides, who threatens his life and the lives of his friends. Blinker agrees to spy on the club and look at their security measures so that Silversides and Graybar can get in. The cats go through the sewer into an old drainpipe in the club’s basement, where a mouse sentry is stationed. Blinker comes running in at the last moment and tells everyone that the cats are coming, and to evacuate. Some mice try to get out, but other fight with Ragweed by spraying the pressurized hose at the cats, who are coming up the steps from the basement. Soon the basement starts to flood, and the cats are swept into the sewer.
After that, Ragweed wants to leave Amperville, and Clutch gives him her earring as a gift, and says that her and Blinker were going to have baby mice. |
| While reading the book, what were your emotions? |
| I felt suspense, but also laughed a lot. I thought that it was very humorous when the hose blasted the water into the basement, the cats went falling down the steps, and the basement started to flood. I’ve always thought the cats were very adorable; there was one illustration which I loved of the cats creeping into the club via the sewer. |
| Do you think the book had a moral? If so, what was it? |
| I admired how Ragweed did not run away when the cats were about to go on a rampage in the new club. I do not have that level of bravery at all! |
| Star Rating |
| Selected Value: 10 (0 min / 10 max) |
| Why did you give the book this rating? |
| I liked all the comedy in it, and I also like cliffhangers and suspense. The illustrations were really pretty, and I thought that when the cats were destroying the first club (the Cheese Squeeze Club) the illustration looked like the cats were Godzilla and the mice were fleeing civilians. |
| What was your favorite/least favorite part? |
| My favorite part was when Silversides came up the stairs of Café Independent (the new club that Ragweed founded) and got sprayed in the face with the hose. I also liked when the basement got flooded, because it was very wild. |
| Would you recommend this book to others? Why? |
| I would! For people who like teamwork with animals, a small bit of fantasy in a real world, with action and adventure and drama. |
| How much action was in the book? |
| Selected Value: 10 (0 min / 10 max) |
| How much drama was in the book? |
| Selected Value: 5 (0 min / 10 max) |
| How much humor was in the book? |
| Selected Value: 10 (0 min / 10 max) |
| How much suspense was in the book? |
| Selected Value: 8 (0 min / 10 max) |
