Book Blog Mod. 6: Moxie Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little
Gifford, Peggy. (2007). Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little. New York: Schwarts & Wade
The Moxy Maxwell books are relatively new contributions to children's literature. In this installment, nine-year-old Moxy has been threatened with dire consequences should she not finish her summer reading of Stuart Little. Mainly, she will not be able to participate in the water ballet performance, and presumably the party afterward as well.
Thus far, Moxy has been dragging her feet on reading the book, putting it off by allowing herself to be distracted by just about everything and anything else. Despite her mother's warning, she continues doing just that, and hi-jinx ensue.
The photos used in lieu of illustrations are cute and well-placed, and the characters are cute and easily differentiated. It certainly is a cute story... but, I gotta say, I didn't care for this book, primarily because the plot fell over on me.
When Moxy ends up causing a great deal of commotion and wrecking her mother's prize-winning garden, on top of not reading the book, I figured there would be punishment, lesson learned, and that's that. But no. Moxy doesn't even get punished with what her mom threatened her with from the very beginning for the more minor sin of not reading the book: she still gets to perform in the water ballet, and just misses the party instead.
So... the kid completely slacks off, wrecks her mom's garden, and only gets half the punishment she was threatened with in the beginning? She doesn't even have to help fix the garden? What the heck? Talk about a let-down, especially since Moxy further argues her mom down into letting her have a nicer snack before going on to do what she was supposed to do from the very beginning. That Moxy further tells her mother that it's not her own fault for the garden getting ruined seems to hammer home that she doesn't learn her lesson and is just trying to prevent a further parental explosion.
The building tension of the story is the wonder of what Moxy is going to do. Is she going to read Stuart Little in time? What is her mother going to do if Moxy doesn't finish it? The ending as is completely deflates the tension and feels like a cop-out.
Booklist disagrees with me. (Thanks, Bowker's Books in Print, once again, for supplying me with reviews by searching the title!) Ilene Cooper declares that the book has a "scenerio [sic] will ring true for readers who may have put off a few homework assignments of their own," and that "the short, sassy chapters have an immediacy that may have readers wringing their hands as the clock ticks down," which I agree with but still doesn't address what I see as the book's failings. (Also: a typo, Booklist? Really?)
Pat Leach of School Library Journal is less complimentary. "One might wish for a little more depth from Moxy, more moderation of her self-centeredness, and, after a few chapters, her aevoidance [sic] tactics grow a tad stale." However, Leach agrees that the photographs are "fresh" and that "a dryly observant narration, clever chapter titles, and the spot-on illustrations provide added lift to the story." (Again with the typos. Bowker's, are you to blame for this?)
As far as stocking this book in the library goes, there are much better books about the topic around; get them instead. Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little is cute, but ultimately not that memorable.
The Moxy Maxwell books are relatively new contributions to children's literature. In this installment, nine-year-old Moxy has been threatened with dire consequences should she not finish her summer reading of Stuart Little. Mainly, she will not be able to participate in the water ballet performance, and presumably the party afterward as well.
Thus far, Moxy has been dragging her feet on reading the book, putting it off by allowing herself to be distracted by just about everything and anything else. Despite her mother's warning, she continues doing just that, and hi-jinx ensue.
The photos used in lieu of illustrations are cute and well-placed, and the characters are cute and easily differentiated. It certainly is a cute story... but, I gotta say, I didn't care for this book, primarily because the plot fell over on me.
When Moxy ends up causing a great deal of commotion and wrecking her mother's prize-winning garden, on top of not reading the book, I figured there would be punishment, lesson learned, and that's that. But no. Moxy doesn't even get punished with what her mom threatened her with from the very beginning for the more minor sin of not reading the book: she still gets to perform in the water ballet, and just misses the party instead.
So... the kid completely slacks off, wrecks her mom's garden, and only gets half the punishment she was threatened with in the beginning? She doesn't even have to help fix the garden? What the heck? Talk about a let-down, especially since Moxy further argues her mom down into letting her have a nicer snack before going on to do what she was supposed to do from the very beginning. That Moxy further tells her mother that it's not her own fault for the garden getting ruined seems to hammer home that she doesn't learn her lesson and is just trying to prevent a further parental explosion.
The building tension of the story is the wonder of what Moxy is going to do. Is she going to read Stuart Little in time? What is her mother going to do if Moxy doesn't finish it? The ending as is completely deflates the tension and feels like a cop-out.
Booklist disagrees with me. (Thanks, Bowker's Books in Print, once again, for supplying me with reviews by searching the title!) Ilene Cooper declares that the book has a "scenerio [sic] will ring true for readers who may have put off a few homework assignments of their own," and that "the short, sassy chapters have an immediacy that may have readers wringing their hands as the clock ticks down," which I agree with but still doesn't address what I see as the book's failings. (Also: a typo, Booklist? Really?)
Pat Leach of School Library Journal is less complimentary. "One might wish for a little more depth from Moxy, more moderation of her self-centeredness, and, after a few chapters, her aevoidance [sic] tactics grow a tad stale." However, Leach agrees that the photographs are "fresh" and that "a dryly observant narration, clever chapter titles, and the spot-on illustrations provide added lift to the story." (Again with the typos. Bowker's, are you to blame for this?)
As far as stocking this book in the library goes, there are much better books about the topic around; get them instead. Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little is cute, but ultimately not that memorable.