Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little (review)

Moxy's lack of love for Stuart Little has become a real problem: she was supposed to read the book before the start of school, and now it's the day before fourth grade begins and she still can't get the process going. The problem isn't her reading ability—she's an avid reader, and she's been carrying the book around with her all summer—it's just that she's always got some sort of plan bubbling up, and her plans don't seem to leave her time for her assignment. The book's energy comes not from the plot, which is a little thin (though it's spiced up with some slapstick mayhem), but from Moxy's forceful character and the book's lighthearted and quirky approach. The tone is matter-of-factly comedic, and the chapters are humorously episodic (many of them only one page, one paragraph, or even one word), interspersed with credibly inept photographs of the proceedings taken by the participants. Though sophisticated touches in the vocabulary require a more advanced reader than the formatting and length might suggest, this would also work as an offbeat readaloud, perhaps as an enjoyable departure for kids slogging through their own reading homework.