Mini Reviews [8]

Dormouse and His Seven Beds by Susanna Isern,

Marco Soma (Illustrator), Ben Dawlatly (Translator)

Synopsis (via Goodreads): 

Dormouse wakes up in a different bed each day.

In Rabbit's carrot box,
in Robin's tie drawer,
and even on Deer's antlers.

But why doesn't Dormouse sleep in his own bed? 

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I received an ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

I thought Dormouse and His Seven Beds was an interesting story about loneliness, and what someone might do to avoid it. Dormouse is afraid to sleep alone, so he chooses a different friends' house to sleep in each night, but they are shocked and a little annoyed by his sudden appearance.

Eventually, they tell Dormouse he can no longer show up in their homes and that he needs to remain in his own bed at night. Dormouse starts to explain, but the others refuse to listen or even let him speak at all. They treated him harshly because they saw his actions as an inconvenience, and instead of asking him what was wrong or how they could help, they turn him away.

This causes Dormouse to make poor choices and his friends have to come to his rescue. They only do this once they realize he wasn't in anyone's home the next morning, and then discover that he wasn't in his either. In the end, everyone is happy and understanding, but I wish there had been more of a lesson within the story. I believe it was supposed to address loneliness, but I was focused on how selfish his friends were being. They cared more about the inconvenience than they did about their friend.

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Tiger vs. Nightmare by Emily Tetri

Expected publication: November 6th 2018

Synopsis (via Goodreads): Tiger is a very lucky kid: she has a monster living under her bed. Every night, Tiger and Monster play games until it’s time for lights out. Of course, Monster would never try to scare Tiger—that’s not what best friends do.

But Monster needs to scare someone…it’s a monster, after all. So while Tiger sleeps, Monster scares all of her nightmares away. Thanks to her friend, Tiger has nothing but good dreams. But waiting in the darkness is a nightmare so big and mean that Monster can’t fight it alone. Only teamwork and a lot of bravery can chase this nightmare away.

In this charming graphic novel for young readers, cartoonist Emily Tetri proves that unlikely best friends can be an unbeatable team, even against the scariest monsters.

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I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. 

We loved this! Tiger vs. Nightmare was an amazing story about friendship and conquering your fears. My son has only recently started believing that monsters lurk in the dark corners of his room, so this book was very applicable to him right now.

However, instead of Monster being something Tiger is afraid of, Monster is her friend that lives underneath her bed. They play together every evening (her parents think she has an imaginary friend), and Monster keeps the nightmares away. They have a solid friendship and a good nighttime routine, until the night a nightmare gets through.

I don't want to give anything away, but eventually the two of them have to work together to conquer their fears, and they end up becoming better friends because of it. Tiger couldn't rely on Monster to do all of the work, she had to learn to face her fears and be there for her friend.

Tiger vs. Nightmare might look like a long book, but it's a quick read with a wonderful story. It's definitely one we're going to be adding to our shelves.