Poppy and Rye ANNOTATION
When their home next to a brook is destroyed by beavers, a large family of golden mice is aided by Poppy the deer mouse and her grumpy porcupine friend, who in the process forges a relationship with the son he had abandoned.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Poppy, the bold, charming deer mouse introduced in Avi's popular and highly acclaimed book by the same name, won the hearts of young readers, parents, and educators alike. Now the beloved mouse returns in a daring new adventure.
Poppy and Rye
Heartbroken over the loss of her beloved fiance, Ragweed, Poppy is making the long journey west to bring the sad news to his family, whom she's never met. There is no way Poppy can know that Ragweed's brother Rye is traveling east on his own quest for answers....
Coming across a beautiful green meadow in the forest, Poppy closes her eyes and begins to dance. Suddenly, she opens her eyes and, for one indescribable moment, thinks she sees Ragweed standing before her. Without a word, the strange new mouse takes her paws and the two dance in a graceful, magical duet. And then he is gone.
Has it all been a dream? Or has something truly extraordinary occurred? Poppy isn't sure. But when she finally reaches Ragweed's family, she discovers great trouble. Beavers are constructing a giant dam and flooding the home of the mouse family. The mice have turned for help to Rye, who has always lived in the shadow of his older brother. Now, Rye longs to prove himself to his family...and to the beautiful deer mouse who captured his heart in the meadow.
Before the battle is over, Poppy and Rye are drawn together in a dangerous showdown with the cruel and relentless dam builders. Braving kidnap, imprisonment, and a daring rescue, they carry out a brilliant plan, and with Poppy by his side, Rye dares rise to meet the expectations of his family and the mouse he loves.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
The spirited mouse star from Poppy must now face life after Ragweed (her fianc who was killed by an owl). Poppy and her curmudgeonly porcupine friend Ereth leave Dimwood Forest in search of Ragweed's parents to tell them the sad news so that Poppy can "get on with her life." When they finally reach their destination, they discover it's hardly the "dullsville" that Ragweed had described. In fact, his family has been forced to leave their comfortable nest and move to higher ground: a clan of development-mad beavers are flooding out the residents in their efforts to turn the pastoral backwater into "Canad's Cute Condos." Along the way, Poppy encounters Ragweed's dreamy, poetic brother Rye, and before long the two mice are head over paws in love. When a showdown between the scheming beavers and the reluctantly heroic mice puts Rye in danger, Poppy risks everything to save him. Of course, all's well that ends well in this rollicking tale, which Avi infuses with generous helpings of adventure, romance and humor. He juggles multiple story lines effortlessly, and his characterizations are particularly engaging, from the blustering Caster P. Canad ("Bless my teeth and smooth my tail!"), head of the beaver coterie, to the smart-mouthed Ereth ("Look here, you pickle-tailed fur booger"). This thoroughly enjoyable sequel is sure to please old fans and will likely win some new ones. Ages 8-12. (June)
Children's Literature - Kristin Harris
A tale of mice and beavers, this one is a winner because the characters are so sympathetically portrayed. The second in a series finds Poppy, a golden mouse, on a journey to inform her former fiancﾽ's family of his death. Poppy had been very much in love with Ragweed, and feels very strongly about communicating with his family. But the trip will be long and dangerous, and she wants company. She manages to talk her friend Ereth, a porcupine, into accompanying her. Ereth has a rather acerbic personality, and agrees to go only reluctantly. Guided by the little she knows of the location of Ragweed's family, Poppy eventually stumbles onto a familiar face and it's full steam ahead with adventure and romance. The beavers have invaded the brook, and Poppy will be involved in not only helping the grieving mouse family deal with their loss, but also with securing their future. This story makes great reading aloud.
VOYA - Maura Bresnahan
Fans of Avi's Poppy (Orchard, 1995/VOYA June 1996) will find this sequel an entertaining read. As readers of the first story will remember, Poppy was determined to find the family of her deceased fiancﾽ Ragweed and let them know of his death. Poppy and Rye details Poppy's journey to the home of Ragweed's parents with her irascible porcupine friend Ereth. Avi delivers a romantic adventure to his audience when Poppy finds herself falling in love with Ragweed's younger brother Rye while at the same time helping his family survive the encroachment of a band of industrious beavers. The beavers are led by Caster P. Canad, who tosses mottoes and slogans around in the same manner that Ereth spews his opinions. Canad's "progress without pain" campaign to dam The Brook where the golden mice live leaves Rye's family fighting to survive as their home and resources are flooded. Poppy and Rye use their wits and bravely defend the rights of the golden mice to maintain their home against the more powerful beaver population. The fast-paced and dramatic fight for survival against the beavers provides a climax young readers will enjoy. Fans of Ereth's alliterative mutterings will not be disappointed either as Avi, once again, has the porcupine spouting some hilarious expressions. Readers waiting for the answers as to how Poppy and Rye met will be satisfied here. VOYA Codes: 4Q 4P M (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses, Broad general YA appeal, Middle School-defined as grades 6 to 8).
School Library Journal
Gr 3-6This novel tells the story, as promised in the final pages of Poppy (Orchard, 1995), of how the courageous deer mouse met and married her husband Rye. Picking up Poppy's story after her victory over Mr. Ocax the owl, Avi chronicles her quest to find her late fianc's family and tell them of his death in Mr. Ocax's claws. The couple meet early in her journey, but their growing love is temporarily thwarted by Rye's imprisonment within the lodge of clich-spouting, indefatigably eager beavers. He is also hindered by his fears that he can't live up to Poppy's memories of Ragweed, who was Rye's sometimes admired, sometimes despised older brother. Unfortunately, the mouse's conflicting feelings about his brother are never clearly resolved, and Rye remains a less-developed character than Poppy, whose growth from timid to brave is one of the previous book's chief delights. Poppy and Rye also loses steam during a distracting subplot featuring Ereth the porcupine's cranky (and unrequited) love for Poppy, but it will still appeal to fans of the first book.Beth Wright, Edythe Dyer Community Library, Hampden, ME
Horn Book Magazine
In Poppy (rev. 1/96), the eponymous mouse heroine lost her first love, Ragweed, and now she is journeying to tell his family of his unfortunate fate. Accompanying Poppy on her expedition is Ereth the porcupine-grumpy, smelly, foul-mouthed, and hostile to change, but a good friend under duress. Poppy meets a charming golden mouse who looks like Ragweed, and who in fact is later revealed to be his younger brother, Rye. When Poppy finds Ragweed's family, they are in the midst of a crisis: beavers have flooded their brook, forcing them to move, and even their new home is under threat. The beavers are led by Mr. Caster B. Canad, a sly takeoff on the slick-talking, amoral businessman, the master of clich, who promises everything but gives nothing ("a stranger is just a friend you haven't met. And I mean that, sincerely"). After Rye is captured by the beavers and trapped inside their lodge, Poppy leads an expedition to save him, and his family, galvanized by Poppy's bravery, plans to destroy the dam. The final desperate and one-sided battle of mice vs. beavers is decided by the sudden appearance of Ereth, whose quills even the beavers fear. The happy ending has a slight undertone of sadness, as Ereth, a misanthropist to the core, realizes that he loves Poppy, a thought so distasteful that he complains bitterly, "Love... Nothing but slug splat stew and toad jam. Phooey." The anthropomor-phic characterization is spot-on: Ereth; Rye, chafing in the shadow of his older brother; Valerian, Rye's father, who will remind some readers of Father in Robert Lawson's Rabbit Hill. Accompanied once again by Brian Floca's witty yet pastoral pencil drawings, this is a sequel worthy of its predecessor.Read all 6 "From The Critics" >
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