Poppy
Written by Avi
Reviewed by Cecily N. (age 11)
Poppy is about a large deer mice family. They lived in an abandoned house that used to belong to a farmer named farmer Grey. The family liked it there, but there was one problem, there was not enough food for the entire family. The head of the family, Lungwort, found a pleasant place about a half a day's march away. It had a huge cornfield that would last them forever. The place was called New House. The problem was that everyone had to have permission to cross, or be in Dimwood Forest. They had to get permission from an owl, Mr. Ocax. To get to New House, you had to cross Dimwood forest. To live in new house, you had to get permission from Mr. Ocax. When Lungwort went to inform Mr. Ocax that his family would like to move into New House, Mr. Ocax rejected the idea immediately. His reason was that Lungwort?s daughter, Poppy, and her friend, Ragweed, did not get permission for them to be on Bannock Hill. Mr. Ocax would eat anyone who did not get permission to be in Dimwood Forest. Poppy, who was smart enough to hide in a log while they were on Bannock Hill, did not become Mr. Ocax?s dinner. The one that was not so smart, Ragweed, was eaten. When Lungwort got back from Mr. Ocax's watching tree, he told everyone the news. For the next few days, no one talked to Poppy. Poppy thought that there must be a different reason that Mr. Ocax would not let them move to New House. Poppy decided to visit new house herself. She told no one her plan except for her closest friend Basil. On her way, she met a porcupine. Poppy had been warned before that porcupines eat mice. When Poppy found out that porcupines did not eat meat, she was relived. She asked the porcupine if he new anything dangerous in or around New House. The porcupine, Ereth, said he did not know. All he told Poppy was that there was a huge block of salt there. It was out there to attract deer. Ereth, who loved salt, would only come with Poppy if she promised that she would bring back all the salt for him. When Poppy finds out the truth about New House, she decides to go tease Mr. Ocax. The truth was that there was a huge, fake owl twice the size of Mr. Ocax there. Mr. Ocax knew that if Lungwort?s family moved to New House, all his dinners would be stolen. When Poppy teased him, Mr. Ocax made several moves to try to eat Poppy. He especially wanted to eat Poppy because she had gotten away from him so many times. They had an hour-long battle. Poppy killed Mr. Ocax with one quill from Ereth. In the end, Poppy had kept her promise with Ereth. Her family also moved into New House comfortably.
I think this book was very exciting. It contained a lot of suspense. The way the author wrote it makes you want to keep on reading. It seamed amazing that Poppy killed a large owl without getting injured. It was a good book with a satisfying ending.
Many books that contain lots of suspense have too much going on at once, Poppy dose not. Lauren recommended this book to me. She read it and said it was a very good book. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read books about animals and nature. Some books, after you read them once, you never want to read them again. Some books once you have read them you want to read them again and again. Poppy is one of those books. Out of all the books I have read, Poppy was probably the best one yet.