September’s Result – Poppy and Ereth by Avi
Way back in 2013, I added the remaining Dimwood Forest books I’d yet to read to my TBR. Chronologically, Poppy and Ereth is the final book in the series. In 2020, Avi published Ragweed and Poppy. So that leaves Ereth’s Birthday, Poppy’s Return, and Ragweed and Poppy on my TBR. The first Dimwood Forest book I read was Ragweed (first chronologically but third published, iirc). I was about seven years old at the time. I wanted a pet mouse to name Ragweed!
I don’t read many anthromorphic animal books. But since I read Ragweed in my earliest novel-reading days, this series has a special place in my heart. I enjoyed this book as much as any of the others. I adore Floca’s illustrations. They truly help bring the forest to life. I also love Avi’s writing style in this series. The dialogue and character descriptions make the books fun to read. I also appreciate his descriptions of nature. I would read more anthromorphic animal books if they were all written like this. (I did recently read Megan Wagner Lloyd’s Haven, which came pretty close, even though it is about a cat and has more human involvement.) Although the stories are mostly lighthearted, there were a number of poignant moments in this one. I found the themes of rebirth and staying young at heart made a satisfying conclusion to the series.
January’s Selection
January’s theme is popular books from 2018. I was going to pick “books I own about the Arctic”, but I am trying to get back to the original reason I conceived this series, which was to read books popular with other bloggers. I sorted my to-read shelf by date published, the picked the first four books published in 2018 with at least 2,000 ratings that stood out to me.
- And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness (7,649 ratings, Sept 2018)
- The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson (8,285 ratings, Apr 2018)
- The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar (18,167 ratings, Sept 2018)
- The Surface Breaks by Louise O’Neill (9,416 ratings, May 2018)
Which book should I read in February? Vote on the poll below or by leaving a comment on this post. (I can’t tell who voted on Twitter, so if you’re really keen you can vote in the comments AND on Twitter 😜) Voting closes on 29 January.
I absolutely loved The House with Chicken Legs.
I was surprised to see how many ratings it has! Quite high for a middle grade book of this type, I thought.
These covers are so beautiful and I want to read more Baba Yaga retellings.
Aren’t they! The House with Chicken Legs will be my Feb read. I have read a few stories with a Baba Yaga character but could also enjoy a few more.
The House with the Chicken Legs was my vote! I hope you get to it soon 🙂
Thanks for voting! The House with Chicken Legs by far received the most votes, so that will be my read this month 😁