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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A nice children's book in a format something like a bunch of short stories. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had the nostalgia of childhood to amplify my interest, but a lovely little children's book all the same.
I have many questions.
Was Stuart adopted? Did Ms. Little give birth to him? How is he such a good sailor? How does he have such a vast knowledge of human nutrition? Why was Harriet a human and not also a mouse?
1.5 stars rounded up for the substitute teacher chapter which was actually funny. Amazing this was by the same author who wrote the arguably perfect children's story, Charlotte's Web.
Was Stuart adopted? Did Ms. Little give birth to him? How is he such a good sailor? How does he have such a vast knowledge of human nutrition? Why was Harriet a human and not also a mouse?
1.5 stars rounded up for the substitute teacher chapter which was actually funny. Amazing this was by the same author who wrote the arguably perfect children's story, Charlotte's Web.
I was recently reading this book to a class of 2nd graders and I constantly found myself going "What!? The chapter just ends like that?" It is a tad bizarre and dated. It's a cute concept at first, but I'm not sure whether Stuart is delusional thinking he is not a mouse or if his family lives in an alternate reality where people can give birth to mouse children...
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I don’t remember this book having a non-ending ending. That was weird! It’s nowhere near on the level as Charlotte’s Web.
It's harmless silly fun from page 1. It's about a boy who "looked very much like a mouse in every way." He has a human mother and father and brother. He wears a hat and a cane, captains a boat, drives a car, teaches school, falls in love with a bird, goes on a (miserable) date with a tiny girl, and is generally getting himself into little adventures. It's occasionally thought-provoking (you gotta be frustrated with Stuart when his date Harriet gives him every chance in the world, and he's too focused on his failure to notice), but often just dumb old fun.
Without spoiling it, the book ends basically with its one major plot unresolved -- and I think that's okay. The whole time, Stuart tumbles from one adventure to the next, and it's silly to expect it to have one final end. He's still got to make a name for himself (a goal he decides out of the blue part way through the book, but we'll forgive him for discovering ambition later rather than never).
-- Aside from the book itself, it's terribly interesting how the children's librarian emerita of the New York City Public Library did not like Stuart Little at all, to the point she wrote to EB White to not publish it...and wrote to his publisher and his WIFE. She wrote FOURTEEN PAGES to EB White's wife to convince her to convince her husband to not publish it. EB White's wife Katherine wrote back tactfully, and I suspect, with a degree of veiled snark.
"I'm of course very sorry you did not like Stuart Little and thank you for writing that letter which I realize must have been very hard for you to do."
Without spoiling it, the book ends basically with its one major plot unresolved -- and I think that's okay. The whole time, Stuart tumbles from one adventure to the next, and it's silly to expect it to have one final end. He's still got to make a name for himself (a goal he decides out of the blue part way through the book, but we'll forgive him for discovering ambition later rather than never).
-- Aside from the book itself, it's terribly interesting how the children's librarian emerita of the New York City Public Library did not like Stuart Little at all, to the point she wrote to EB White to not publish it...and wrote to his publisher and his WIFE. She wrote FOURTEEN PAGES to EB White's wife to convince her to convince her husband to not publish it. EB White's wife Katherine wrote back tactfully, and I suspect, with a degree of veiled snark.
"I'm of course very sorry you did not like Stuart Little and thank you for writing that letter which I realize must have been very hard for you to do."
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Stuart Little by E.B White was cute, but Stuart is kind of a jerk 😅
Stuart Little was a very small boy who just happened to look like and be the same size as a mouse. Also he was basically immediately grown.
Stuart has several mouse-sized adventures, especially surviving the family house cat.
This book ended incredibly abruptly though and I was not satisfied with the ending.
Also... there's an invisible car. I love it.
Stuart Little was a very small boy who just happened to look like and be the same size as a mouse. Also he was basically immediately grown.
Stuart has several mouse-sized adventures, especially surviving the family house cat.
This book ended incredibly abruptly though and I was not satisfied with the ending.
Also... there's an invisible car. I love it.
This is the first of my completed readings for the 2018 Read Harder challenge (children's classic published before 1980). I may not have loved this book if I'd read it as a child. However, Stuart had several interesting adventures.
This was a quick and easy read for me. I did enjoy it overall, but even though I went into it knowing it should read as a fantasy-type tale of a young boy who looks like a mouse born to a family of humans, I often couldn't get past the fact that everyone talked to Stuart and didn't seem to question his tiny, talking, mouse-like existence in any way. It was just a fact of the story that he was normal, except for the fact that he was barely 2" tall, and he could talk like everyone else, drive a tiny car, a tiny ship, etc. without anyone questioning it in any way. Again, I know the story is obviously not meant to be factual, but I thought that at least he was the only one people didn't question. However, the cat and the bird spoke too.
It also bothered me that Stuart went on a trip, leaving his family behind, in search of his bird friend, Margalo. This would have been fine with me had the book had a solid conclusion. I honestly looked through the last few pages of the book to see if a chapter or two had been ripped out of the library copy I had, since it seemed like an abrupt ending. I get that he was in search of her and also in search of himself (metaphorically), as he tried to find her and bring back the friendship he missed. Yet, I am someone who craves closure, and I did not feel as though this book provided it to me.
It was interesting to read about Stuart's travels, but I much prefer White's 'Charlotte's Web' to this book, as even though the animals in that one could talk, not everyone knew it, and it seemed much more of a fantasy than 'Stuart Little,' which came off as though it was meant to be reality, despite the fantastical elements it possessed.
It also bothered me that Stuart went on a trip, leaving his family behind, in search of his bird friend, Margalo. This would have been fine with me had the book had a solid conclusion. I honestly looked through the last few pages of the book to see if a chapter or two had been ripped out of the library copy I had, since it seemed like an abrupt ending. I get that he was in search of her and also in search of himself (metaphorically), as he tried to find her and bring back the friendship he missed. Yet, I am someone who craves closure, and I did not feel as though this book provided it to me.
It was interesting to read about Stuart's travels, but I much prefer White's 'Charlotte's Web' to this book, as even though the animals in that one could talk, not everyone knew it, and it seemed much more of a fantasy than 'Stuart Little,' which came off as though it was meant to be reality, despite the fantastical elements it possessed.