Poppy and Rye

Dimwood Forest #3

by Avi, Brian Floca (Illustrator)

Heartbroken over the death of her fiance, Ragweed, Poppy the deer mouse journeys west through the vast Dimwood Forest to bring the sad news to Ragweed's family. But Poppy and her prickly porcupine pal Ereth arrive only to discover that beavers have flooded the serene valley where Ragweed lived.

Together Poppy and Ragweed's brother Rye brave kidnapping, imprisonment, and a daring rescue to fight the beavers. At the same time, Rye—who has lived in Ragweed's shadow—fights to prove himself worthy of Poppy's love.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Animals, Childrens, Middle Grade, Adventure, Young Adult

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Avi is a pen name for Edward Irving Wortis, but he says, "The fact is, Avi is the only name I use." Born in 1937, Avi has created many fictional favorites such as The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Nothing but the Truth, and the Crispin series. His work is popular among readers young and old.

Reviews

[Sarah Eagle · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Avi writes it, I will read it. He's a MASTER of children's books. Few people so cleverly weave political allegories, adventure, and do it as he does so that small children AND their parents can enjoy reading them. Book 1 -Ragweed - was about mice vs cats in a very "minorities deserve rights in the face of racism" way. Book 2, Poppy, was a "let my people go from this brainwashed totalitarian regime", and this one is about beavers building a dam and forcing everyone to move out under the guise of "progress" (a.k.a. corrupt business practices rooted in narcissism, greed and negligence for others).
I feel like the villain in this book wasn't as clear-cut as Mr. Ocax or Snowball, but that's not a bad thing. Still, Avi does a terrific job with making Mr. Canad the beaver a right jerk. Poppy's writing is not out of character, nor are the actions of the other characters, who are all new except for Ereth the porcupine. The pacing was great. The prose was excellent as usual. My only real complaint is that the romance that ensues I felt was a bit rushed / forced, considering the circumstances. I would still whole-heartedly recommend this series to ANYONE, and it's not often where a series continues to be as excellent as the first installment. This is one of those series. 9.5/10

[Johnny G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Poppy for the fifth or sixth time, I wanted to learn more about the characters in Dimwood Forest. This one introduces some eager beavers -eager to banish Ragweed’s family from an area where they live, and of course Poppy finds her way in the middle of things. By the way, she falls in love with Rye, Ragweed’s brother, and at the same time irritates her friend, Ereth, who is, in my opinion, grouchy like a lot of humans that I know. This book is just OK.

[Jocelyn]

Love love love love. Worthwhile read when I was 8 and now when I’m 18.

The beaver is both a fast talking salesman and a disturbing representation of greed and “technological progress” (destruction of land for the purpose of creating condos??) lacking empathy and without original thought, using only cliched phrases… and a lot of them. Or he’s colonialism. Up to interpretation.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite series to read aloud to young school-age children. This one happens to bog down a bit with romantic drama. One of my older kids said, "This is like 'Twilight' with mice." Fortunately, that whole business doesn't last all that long.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cute story follows Poppy as she travels to the far-away Brook to bring the sad news of Ragweed's death to his family. But when she arrives, the Brook has been dammed by selfish beavers, and Ragweed's family have been threatened and their home flooded. The only one brave enough to help Poppy stand up to the beavers is Ragweed's younger brother, Rye.

I loved this sweet and whimsical story! The writing is old-fashioned and charming, and I loved the adorable mouse characters.
I was especially interested to see the depth of Rye's character, and some character development from Poppy and Ereth. It was delightful to see a simple story with such deep themes.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this aloud to my 6 year old. He enjoyed it quite a bit, I found it just okay. It's a very...Disney style story, with a romance built entirely upon a brief interaction and a lot of drama involving a jealous and absolutely abysmally behaved friend (who is treated consistently as if his abusive behavior is normal and fine and just about him being a grump whose bad behavior should be overlooked) and etc. etc., with the main plot involving evil beavers trying to develop the idyllic brook the mouse family lives by into a pond, nay, a lake!! Poppy does save the day, though. If kiddo wants to read another of these, I'd read it to him - but it was clearly not my favorite. :)

[Ginni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished reading this to my students. This is the second in the Dimwood Forest Series. However we also read Ragweed, which is sort of like a preqel. Usually I just read three of these Avi books and let my students continue on their own. However they all insisted that I read Ereth's Birthday, #3 in the series next. I'm looking forward to this, as this one I haven't read. They are such well written stories about forest animals engaging in human like activities. I think, at least I hope, that my students learn a lot about human nature from these stories.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great entry in this series. In each book, there’s some kind of much larger animal causing trouble that the mice have to defeat—the cats in Ragweed, the owl (my personal favorite) in Poppy, and the beavers in Poppy and Rye. It always seems like they’re working against overwhelming odds, but it’s enjoyable seeing the various characters in the books and their quirky personalities and the way that the mice eventually manage to pull it off.

The main beaver in this one constantly spouted idioms while proclaiming how original he was. So even for an adult reader there were some bits that were humorous on a level that kids might not catch. The plot level is overall more kid-level though, but perhaps with thinly veiled allegory at times to larger societal issues.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series was utterly delightful when I read it to my young sons 15 years ago - and it remains utterly delightful! This sweet family of golden field mice, chased away from their home by some slick-talking megalomaniac beavers (who are just hilarious honestly), are likeable characters. I especially loved Poppy. But my most favorite character is Ereth, the grouchy porcupine who has his porcupine version of very colorful language. And underneath all that grump and all those quills lies a tender heart for the sweet little mouse, Poppy.
Age 8 or 58, this series is charming and well worth the read.

[Sarah Barrio · Rating 3 out of 5]

So cute! My kids and I loved this second adventure with Poppy and my kids want to go on to Ragweed. I felt like there were so many emotions to talk about with the porcupine character that lead to some good discussions with my kids.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Romance, suspense, action, triumph, unity!" says Violet (age 8). What more could you ask for? I would add humor from a very prickly porcupine and a political allegory fit for our time. Loving this series.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great!

[Erin Estes · Rating 3 out of 5]

very quaint but avi, did you even have an editor???

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids and I are continuing to enjoy these stories about Poppy. We're listening to them on tape, so that may be part of the charm. The narrator is doing an excellent job of maintaining terrific voices for the different animals. This makes crotchety Ereth's swearing even funnier ("spider spit" and the like). Ereth is a porcupine, by the way. Like Ragweed and Poppy, Poppy and Rye alludes to greater social and societal issues than simply two mice falling in love and, together with Ereth and Rye's family, defeating a troop of beavers. This book brings up questions of environmentalism (subtle, but there) as well as progress for the sake of progress v. evaluating the current status quo before forging ahead. It's a little slower than Poppy, but if you're vested in the characters it shouldn't be a problem.

Great characterization as usual and just the right level of adventure for elementary school students.

[Bish Denham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adored Ereth the porcupine, such a prickly personality, and I adored Poppy for seeing past his prickliness and being his friend. Avi put great insults into his mouth that were both humorous and could sound quite terrible. "Sticky roach toes." "Oh, sparrow swit." "Buzzard fraps." "I hate water. In fact, I hate everything." I just wish he had played for more a roll in the middle of the book.

That said, this is quite an allegory about "big business" or "corporations" running over the "little guys" and destroying their way of life and habitat. But it never reads or sound preachy.

Avi used just about every cliché known when the awful Mr. Caster P. Canad was speaking. "What we need, though, is something that hits folks square in the eye. Something strong. Dynamic. That goes over the top. Scores a bull's eye. Is a hole in one. The whole ten yards. A knock out in one. Slam dunk. I'm telling you , straight from the heart, there's nothing I admire more than originality. As long as it fits the bill."

There are several subplots which Avi weaves together pretty seamlessly, including a sweet love story between Poppy and Rye. There's adventure, bravery, sorrow, love, loss, family, hope. A little bit of something for everyone.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't say this was a favorite of mine in the series. It seemed written more as an afterthought to fill gaps left in the initial writing in the series (it was published out of order) and lacked some of the wisdom and drama that I love about our favorites in this series. And the kids fluctuated in their interest level, probably because there were a lot of new characters they didn't care as deeply about, the center portion dragged a bit, and Ereth (our favorite character) does not get near as much face time in this book. The last ~6 chapters, though, we read in a flurry, with the kids pacing anxiously at the rising drama, laughing uproariously at the humor, and begging for "just one more chapter."

[Darian - Books With A Chance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve seen other reviewers compare this story to a Disney movie and I think I agree. However I view that as a good thing because I enjoy Disney love stories.
I liked the political aspect of the story, and the irony of the beavers complaining that there would be lives lost if the mice destroyed their dam.
What I can’t get over is Ereth the porcupine. I imagine him as your grumpy old neighbor who acts like he doesn’t like you but really does and will kick some ass. But when he’s talking about love, it doesn’t feel like a family love that it should be. His jealousy just isn’t okay.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poppy travels to The Brook to deliver the bad news to Ragweed's family. But the family has moved because of Canad, the beaver's, cute condos building project. When Poppy finally tracks the family down, the bad news sends Rye out on a desperate act of bravery and he is captured by Canad and held for ransom. And the ransom demand is for the mouse family to give up their home and move on. Poppy organizes the family to attempt a rescue.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part this was a charming book. The main beaver was heavy-handed and overdone. I also wondered why we had the sad story line of Ereth constantly cursing everyone, including those he loves, and feeling unrequited love for another character. Is that to show children some people are grumps? That we can’t always get what we want? The rest of the book was good and I absolutely loved the scene in which Poppy dances with Rye.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is listed as #3 on my Perma-Bound edition.
I like that some time has passed since the previous book, but the reader can enter this episode easily with the interesting, suspenseful thread of events. I also like how Ereth gradually becomes a more important character. His language is entertaining on its own!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

We have started out our Read Aloud time this year with a really fun series. We are all very engaged and interested in the story, and have fallen in love with all the animals that live in Dimwood Forest and out by the little Brook. Lots of laughter and, "please read one more chapter Mom!" Highly recommend.

[Ammie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Wait. You got engaged to someone you just met that day?"

This read more like a Disney Princess movie.

It was like Up mixed with The Little Mermaid. I despised it at a few points and then trudged through anyway. Not really sure why, probably because I care what happens to the old grump, and Poppy is slightly endearing.

[Caldie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's okay but the characters make me so annoyed. Poppy loved her husband and came to delivery news of his death but then marries a new guy in just a few weeks?? Ereth is straight up an a**hole. I get that poppy has probably known him for a while but she should not tolerate some of the stuff he's done?? I mean you can even tell she's probably done with him when she straight up just forgets and leaves ereth on the hill.
The pacing is honestly really good and the plot is nice but oh the characters.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters really seemed to come alive in this book, and the plot moved at a steady pace, increasing in speed and intensity, building toward and exciting climax near the end. Ereth was one of my favorite characters, with his witty insults and silly sayings. He showed he really had heart and was a dynamic character. I highly recommend this book and this series.

[Jennifer Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like that this books had a bit more depth to its plot and antagonist. The way Poppy and Rye come together is really cute, too. Poor Ereth though. I’m kind of glad he never got to tell Poppy how he felt. He never considered that a porcupine marrying a deer mouse would be the outlandish thing people would talk about.

[Patti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the social commentary (this time on the subject of "development" and "progress" interwoven with a fun story of animals with surprisingly complex emotions and actions. Another read aloud with great discussion points.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as wonderful as Poppy by Avi, this book follows Poppy in her journey after the end of her adventures surrounding the Dimwood Forest. Poppy journeys to a 'new land' and meets a whole new cast of characters in a community facing its own challenges and lends a helping paw.

[Sierra The Book Addict · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute, poppy wanted to do the right thing an tell Ragweed’s parents of his misfortune, so she does. While Erath comes to terms of his feelings for her and his sassiness is just superior. While Ragweed’s family especially Rye Poppy’s new love his dealing with selfish Beavers.

[Went Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute story but my biggest gripe is the favoritism that Clover showed towards Ragweed. I really resented it. But I like how Poppy visited the Brook to inform the family of Ragweed's untimely passing. And I like how Rye and Poppy fell in love.