Read at the request of my 8 year old daughter. She truly loves it. Would definitely recommend for that age group. There is a particularly good female character. Pushing on to book 2 in the trilogy.

best mousy book ever

Read Mouseheart by Lisa Fiedler
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ or (8.71/10)

Characters - 9
These were some really good characters! Even those that were evil, they still had some reasoning and development. Not just straight villains.

Atmosphere - 8
Solid and detailed.

Writing - 9
I really enjoyed the writing style and the wonderful illustrations!

Plot - 8
Very solid plot.

Intrigue - 9
I was quite eager to finish this book! It was very exciting and fast-paced :)

Logic - 9
Everything tied up very nicely and it made sense :)

Enjoyment - 9
This book was amazing. I can’t wait to read the sequel :D

I love a good animal adventure story, especially one featuring rodents, and this didn't disappoint. The premise and tone remind me a lot of Don Bluth movies I grew up with, like The Secret of NIMH and An American Tail — it's action-packed and full of heart, with some pretty dark (though still kid-appropriate) undertones. The illustrations are also absolutely delightful and help to cement the setting of the rodents living in, yet apart from the humans' world and repurposing their cast-off objects, like buttons for shields. I look forward to the sequel coming out in just a couple months!

Hopper lives with his siblings in a pet store. They believe they will one day be adopted and go to their forever home. That belief is shattered when they realize they are to be sold as snake food. The mice escape, but Hopper is separated from Pinkie and Pup. He ends up below Brooklyn and is taken in by a rat named Zucker. Turns out Zucker is the prince of Atlantia, a rat haven controlled by King Titus. Hopper is taken in by the king, but finds out that he bears a striking resemblance to the prophesied chosen one who will one day liberate the mice of the underworld. The more he learns about the rats and the mice, the more he is unsure of who is right or wrong. How can one little mouse be the salvation they were looking for?

This book was actually not as bad as I thought it was going to. I am generally not a fan of animal books and the cover didn't give me any hope that this one would be better than the rest. While the book definitely doesn't break any new ground story-wise, it is entertaining. I am sure fans of Redwall and the Warriors series will enjoy this swashbuckling tale.

A rousing adventure with just enough darkness to make the danger real and serious, with warring tribes of rats, mice, and cats, false utopias, royal conspiracies, prophecies, espionage, and vast underground realms. I found the book a bit slow and hard to get into at first, then was swept up in Hopper's journey from self-declared intellectual coward to mouse of action.

A wonderful book in the tradition of so many with animal-centered characters. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Highly recommended for middle grade readers and anyone who loves a good rodent adventure! ;)

My fourth grader asked me to read this since he really liked it and wanted to talk about it. As an adult and a writer, I feel that some of the writing wasn't great; however, it was a fun, quick read and I could see why 9 and 10 year olds would like it.

Hopper, a pet store mouse, escapes, loses his brother and sister in the process, and finds himself lost in the Brooklyn underground where he meets up with Zucker, a rat prince, whose father Titus is king of Romanus. Hopper quickly finds out that not everyone loves the rat kingdom which has a seemingly peaceful treaty with the cats and a relocation and colonization program for other rodents. Hopper soon finds himself caught in the battle between rebels, mice, and rats, learning about betrayal and how to deal with being the Chosen One.

My main gripes:

The Chosen One. An overly used trope. Here it's not even called anything else. And of course he figures out the subway system in moments when others have been studying it for years. Younger readers would not be that aware of the trope as much, so we can sort of pass on that, but him figuring out the subway system needed something more especially since he just learned to read. I also doubt very much that seasoned veterans would take orders from a young, inexperienced pet store mouse, chosen one or not. The author could have given him a vital role, but i don't buy that he planned the entire attack.

There are a lot of cliches and filtered writing. I think even kids deserve better writing. Sometimes it bordered on lazy writing because the fixes would have been simple and quick.

On another note, I was surprised that the author did not shy away from violence especially in the cat attack. It wasn't graphic, but it did add some realism and raised the stakes and the tension of the book. There were real consequences if the mice and rat rebels lost the fight, so that's a plus to the book.