Poppy's Return (Tales from Dimwood Forest)
Grade 3-6&ndash;In this latest installment in the series, Avi gives his animal characters an uncomfortable humanity. Poppy, now the mother of 11, faces middle age with sighs and regrets while her troublesome son Ragweed Jr. suffers the pangs of adolescence. When humans threaten to destroy Poppy's parents' home, she and Ragweed make the journey together, developing respect for one another's courage. This book lacks the delightful charm of the previous books. The deer mouse's midlife crisis and her son's adolescent rantings aren't well suited to their animal natures and won't be understood by the target audience, and the dialogue ranges from trite to grating. Avi devotes over half the book to the family conflict and very few pages to the attempted destruction of the farm, which, when it does come, is too facilely resolved. While Ereth the porcupine's colorful metaphors will please readers, there is little else to hold this book together. Unless series readers demand it, look to other titles such as M. I. McAllister'sUrchin of the Riding Stars(Hyperion, 2005) for animal adventure.&ndash;Caitlin Augusta, The Darien Library, CTCopyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.