Rating: 5 stars
Cover synopsis: Ralph the mouse ventures out of the wall of his hotel-room home and climbs aboard the toy motorcycle left there by a young guest. He and the motorcycle take a terrible fall. Luckily, Keith, the owner of the motorcycle rescues Ralph and teaches him how to ride the bike. Thus begins a great friendship and many awesome adventures.
This is such a fun book. I read it to my 6-year-old daughter and she was giggling along at the funny parts and chewing her nails nervously at the suspenseful parts. She'd beg me to read more after each chapter -- and even snuck off with it to sneak a peak ahead on her own -- so to me, that's a winner.
I was impressed with the vocabulary in this book. It's recommended for ages 8-12, but there were plenty of big, grown-up words in here. My daughter would frequently stop me to ask what words meant, trying to pronounce them herself, and she really enjoyed the decoding process. The Mouse and the Motorcycle is entertaining and educational. I'm glad it wasn't dumbed down.
I remember reading this book when I was younger and loving it. But then, I loved practically everything by Beverly Cleary. Perhaps I need to get my daughter started on Ramona...
