Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1945624 in Books
• Published on: 1999-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .65" h x 5.14" w x 7.76" l, .51 pounds
• Binding: School & Library Binding
• 182 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The spirited mouse star from Poppy must now face life after Ragweed (her fiance 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.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 3-6-In Avi's sequel to Poppy, Poppy teams up with Rye to save his family's home from greedy, dam-building beavers.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 4^-6. In this sequel to Poppy, a Youth Editors' Choice '95, the intrepid deer mouse Poppy persuades her curmudgeonly porcupine friend Ereth to accompany her on a trek to tell Ragweed's family how her beloved golden mouse had met an untimely death. Although Ereth grumbles his way west, the pair eventually reach "The Brook," where the golden mouse family lives, only to discover that the family has been forced to move because the brook has been dammed by beavers ("Canad and Co. `Progress Without Pain,' that's our motto"), and the mouse family's home has been flooded. With Poppy's planning and help, the golden mice manage to defeat the beavers, driving them away and breaking the dam. In the process, Poppy and Rye, Ragweed's brother, fall in love. The battle against the beavers is exciting: Rye is captured sneaking into the beavers' lodge and held prisoner; Poppy makes her way by raft to the lodge and enters through a vent hole and almost drowns as she escapes. As he took on the politics of power in Poppy, Avi here tackles the advance of progress for the sake of progress, no matter the consequences. With the exception of Poppy and Ereth, characters lack the fine development of those in the first book, but Poppy's fans will welcome her return and cheer her on in her new adventure. Sally Estes