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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
This did not win my family's heart like Charlotte's Web; in fact, my children took turns ridiculing it. I didn't think it was *that* bad but also probably wouldn't pick it up again in the future.
I read this book as a child. I was a voracious reader and I remember thinking this book was fine, though I didn't like it as much as Charlotte's Web or The Trumpet of the Swan by the same author. I read the book again as an adult as part of an assignment for a children's literature course and I was appalled at how bad it was. Stuart was the biological child of Mr. and Mrs. Little? The little car had an invisibility button? Stuart met a human girl who was his size? In addition to these and other oddities, the story seemed disjointed, disconnected, and the ending was just really strange. In any case, I give this two stars as an average of my three-star childhood rating and my one-star adult rating.
This book was not what I was expecting at all.
At first it had a lot of the same scenes playing out that those who have seen the film, would be familiar with. But it was all just off.
The tone, the pacing, the writing. Nothing quite felt like it hit the mark. It all just fell short.
Stuart, he was just too overconfident, and his attitude was grating (especially the date with the Ames girl). Also how about the fact that Mrs. Little somehow "giving birth" to a mouse is never questioned or evaluated. Especially since they show that Miss Ames was just a two inch young girl. They just should have been some consistency, make her a mouse, explain this strange phenomenon that literally no one seems to question. At all. Which is more than slightly disconcerting.
Also most of the book didn't feel like it actually had much of a plot. It just bounced from Stuart adventure, to the next Stuart adventure. That is until Margalo is introduced, things get a little more cohesive there, until she completely disappears so Stuart decides to go off after her. We never find out if he left his family a note explaining where he had gone, considering how worked up they got when they thought he had disappeared down a mousehole, him just running away would have sent them into complete despair.
So he goes off on his adventure to find Margalo, and once again a lot of the cohesiveness fades and we once again jump from unlikely adventure to unlikely adventure. From getting a working miniature car, that somehow has a button to turn it invisible? That is only mentioned once. To being a substitute teacher for a day. It just all felt like a mess really, very rushed and haphazard. Nothing was more rushed than the ending. The book just ends, without any resolution. We never find out it he finds Margalo, if he ever returns to his family, or if they know where he's gone. Nothing. It just stops with him driving off towards the north. The whole thing was completely underwhelming. If kids want to know the story of Stuart Little, just watch the film, because its leagues better than the book, and that is not something I say very often, or ever.
At first it had a lot of the same scenes playing out that those who have seen the film, would be familiar with. But it was all just off.
The tone, the pacing, the writing. Nothing quite felt like it hit the mark. It all just fell short.
Stuart, he was just too overconfident, and his attitude was grating (especially the date with the Ames girl). Also how about the fact that Mrs. Little somehow "giving birth" to a mouse is never questioned or evaluated. Especially since they show that Miss Ames was just a two inch young girl. They just should have been some consistency, make her a mouse, explain this strange phenomenon that literally no one seems to question. At all. Which is more than slightly disconcerting.
Also most of the book didn't feel like it actually had much of a plot. It just bounced from Stuart adventure, to the next Stuart adventure. That is until Margalo is introduced, things get a little more cohesive there, until she completely disappears so Stuart decides to go off after her. We never find out if he left his family a note explaining where he had gone, considering how worked up they got when they thought he had disappeared down a mousehole, him just running away would have sent them into complete despair.
So he goes off on his adventure to find Margalo, and once again a lot of the cohesiveness fades and we once again jump from unlikely adventure to unlikely adventure. From getting a working miniature car, that somehow has a button to turn it invisible? That is only mentioned once. To being a substitute teacher for a day. It just all felt like a mess really, very rushed and haphazard. Nothing was more rushed than the ending. The book just ends, without any resolution. We never find out it he finds Margalo, if he ever returns to his family, or if they know where he's gone. Nothing. It just stops with him driving off towards the north. The whole thing was completely underwhelming. If kids want to know the story of Stuart Little, just watch the film, because its leagues better than the book, and that is not something I say very often, or ever.
It is almost impossible to catch a speedy invisible model automobile even when one is a skillful dentist.
Felt incomplete. I wanted to know what happened with Margalo and with Harriet Ames, but the book just kind of...ends? I'm still wondering if I missed a chapter (or five). It was all very charming and I loved Stuart, but the book as a whole was very episodic and not a great choice if you want to see a complete narrative arc played out.
Felt incomplete. I wanted to know what happened with Margalo and with Harriet Ames, but the book just kind of...ends? I'm still wondering if I missed a chapter (or five). It was all very charming and I loved Stuart, but the book as a whole was very episodic and not a great choice if you want to see a complete narrative arc played out.
My five-year-old and I enjoyed this book, and I love that it is never explained why Stuart is so small and looks like a mouse. The writing is definitely best when Stuart is on an adventure, first when he goes sailing in Central Park, and then on his road trip in the last chapters.
This is a strange one indeed, but so much fun. I remember being confused by Stuart's love life--it's rather adult, really--but I adored the way the situation was set up. Here is a family and their youngest son is a mouse. Okay, so then what? Obviously, the cat detests him, but less obviously, he struggles with the coins when he takes the bus around town .
I remember loving this book as a kid so I read it to my boys (3.5 and 5.5). It's pretty strange, but also kind of delightful - certainly very imaginative. And even though it's old fashioned, I didn't notice anything too appalling. I'm not 100% sure what my boys got out of it (there's one chapter with a sailboat race full of boating terms none of us knew) but they loved it and want us to read it again!
Well written, but no strong story line. More like random vignettes.