BabyMouse: Queen of the World!

Holm, J. L., & Holm, M. (2006). Babymouse: Queen of the world! HarperCollins Children's Books. 

Babymouse: Queen of the World is the work of a brother and sister pair, Jennifer L. Holm, who writes the text of the story, and Matthew Holm, who illustrates the work. The illustrations are naive in style, appearing somewhat shaky and untrained to the eye, yet the text and illustrations work well together, as the naive style and simple plot and easy word choices are well matched. However, the art style may be unappealing to some young readers, as the lines are frequently shaky and the pictures can be a touch too busy. Matthew Holm draws the illustrations digitally, and uses a limited color palette of black, white, and pink, and adds minimal to no depth to the drawings with shading or color.  

The plot is based on social problems that children may experience, including bullying, exclusion, and gossip. The plot is therefore easily understandable and relatable to children. That being said, children may find the plot predictable and fairly standard. While entertaining, the plot of Babymouse: Queen of the World is slightly disjointed, with abrupt shifts into the world of Babymouse’s imagination appearing frequently. It’s likely that readers may not fully understand that these escapist imagination sequences do not take place in Babymous’s reality until the second one. Additionally, children in the target age group of 7 to 10 may not fully understand or appreciate these imagination sequences, which take Babymouse to the wild west, outerspace, or to the awakening of Frankenstien. That being said, they may still find these scenes enjoyable. 

This book is part of a series of 20 books, each following Babymouse as she navigates a variety of things children experience. Babymouse: Queen of the World ends with Babymouse learning a positive lesson about being true to oneself.  If children enjoy the first one, then they are highly likely to enjoy the rest. Recommended for Children ages 8 to 11.