Ragweed & Poppy
HarperCollins, 2020
illustrated by Brian Floca
Book 2 of 7
buy the book
audio book narrated by
John McDonough
The Poppy Books
if you liked this book, try:
What’s this book about?
How did Ragweed and Poppy meet and become friends? This book tells their hilarious story! Adventurous golden mouse Ragweed is on a freight train leaving the city of Amperville. On his journey he meets Lotar, a young, annoying, and lost raccoon who’s desperate to reunite with his mother. Though Ragweed doesn’t really want to help the raccoon, by doing so he winds up in Dimwood Forest.
Ragweed is now ready to strike off on his own, but it’s not long before he hears a cry for help. Following the sound of the voice, he finds a cage with a deer mouse trapped inside. When he asks the mouse’s name, she replies, “Poppy.”
The way Ragweed comes to Poppy’s aid, and how Poppy comes to his, is how their rousing and fateful friendship begins. As for that annoying raccoon, he keeps getting in the way.
Resources
- Teaching guide for all of the Poppy books
- Listen to Avi read from the other six Poppy books
- Listen to “A Mouse Will A Roving Go,” composed and recorded by my son Shaun and his family
Story Behind the Story
The origins of Poppy, and the Poppy series can be found on this blog in a post dated June 13, 2017.
If you read that post and the other posts about the sequential books, you’ll note that I never intended to write a series, that even as they appeared they were not written in sequence. Moreover, that first poppy book appeared in 1985. In other words, the series began twenty-five years ago. That’s a stretch.
Awards and Recognition
- Kirkus Reviews 10 Top Middle-Grade Summer Reads
Reviews
“Avi handles the large cast of familiar and new characters with ease, while pacing the narrative for maximum enjoyment. Floca’s pencil drawings illustrate the story. … A must-read choice for Poppy fans.” (Booklist)
“A characteristically droll lagniappe for a durable and popular series.” (Kirkus Reviews)