Ragweed
HarperCollins, 2000
illustrated by Brian Floca
Book 1 of 7
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audio book narrated by
John McDonough
The Poppy Books
if you liked this book, try:
What’s this book about?
A mouse has to do what a mouse has to do.
Ragweed is determined to see the world. He leaves his family and cozy country home and sets off by train for the big city. What wonders await him: music, excitement, new friends … and cunning, carnivorous cats! Silversides is the purring president of F.E.A.R. (Felines Enraged About Rodents), a group dedicated to keeping cats on top, people in the middle, and mice on the bottom. Can Ragweed and his motley yet musical crew of city nice—Clutch, Dipstick, Lugnut, and Blinker—band together to fight their feline foe?
Resources
- Teaching guide for all of the Poppy books
- Listen to Avi read from the other six Poppy books
Story Behind the Story
Hardly a week goes that doesn’t have one of my readers writing to me and asking, “Why did you let Ragweed die?”
The story of Ragweed, character and book, is a case history of how a character takes over a book, and indeed, a series (The Poppy books) not because the author (me), wished it so, but because the story insisted.
Awards and Recognition
- Publishers Weekly, starred review
- Booklist Top Ten Fantasy Books of 1999
- Children’s Choice nominee, North Carolina
Reviews
“Consummate storyteller Avi outdoes himself in this prequel to Poppy and Poppy and Rye, cutting loose with a crackerjack tale that’s pure delight from start to finish… . Fueled with a mixture of outrageous puns and sly witticisms, this is, as Clutch would say, one totally awesome tale. High four!” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
buy the book
The Poppy Books
if you liked this book, try: