I was lucky enough to receive a surprise copy of this in exchange for an honest review. All views and opinions are our own.
AdventureMice: Otter Chaos by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre, published by David Fickling Books
This was such a brilliant surprise bit of book post to receive, and so well timed as Peapod and I were ready for a new illustrated chapter book to share and this looked perfect. Peapod agreed, excitedly opening it and starting to look through it, immediately immersed!
AdventureMice tells the story of Pedro, a young mouse desperate for adventure who gets swept out to sea and rescued by the Adventure Mice. After a night spent in their base (by far Peapod’s favourite illustration, which he loves to return to and pore over…and of course delight in the glimpse of a mouse on the loo!), his return home is delayed by urgent reports of a hungry otter nearby – the Adventure Mice are needed!
So, with seaplane, submarine, ship and helicopter at the ready, they’re off on a real adventure. Poor Pedro is desperate to be helpful and impress his heroes, but somehow only seems to make the situation worse.
However, it is Pedro’s kind heart and sense of what it truly means to be good, to be a real rescue mouse, that comes through in the end in a thrilling rescue attempt!
This a brilliant early chapter book, with plenty of excitement and drama to enthrall young readers, and fire their imaginations; what young child doesn’t want to read about daring rescues on the seas, escapes from danger and defeating a mouse-eating ‘baddy’?! As Pedro finds out –
“adventures are dangerous and scary and uncomfortable. But if you have friends to have adventures with, they can be BRILLIANT!“
The illustrations, as you’d expect from McIntyre are bright, detailed, full of character and lots of fun. And we especially love the map of the Mouse Islands included at the back – going over it often naming and talking about the different places.
There’s even a guide to drawing Pedro at the back of the book, which Peapod took himself off with the other morning (while I was still caffeinating and coming to life) – he’s terribly proud of his picture, telling me “Mine’s really good because I just used this [the guide]!”
With expert creatives Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve captaining the AdventureMice ship, it’s no surprise that we devoured it in just a few days, with A LOT of “one more chapter….pleeeeeeease? Just a bit more? Just one more page? Let’s just look at the next page…” each night!
Peapod couldn’t put it down and we read it at every available opportunity! We’ve just finished reading it for the second time now and he is eagerly anticipating book two (despite book one not having even made it to the shops yet!)
Luckily there is a book two planned for June and we can’t wait!
Peapod says his favourite things were:
“The otter, the whirlpool, the boat and all the different bits of the house.”
Peapod rates it:
“Four hundred and eleventy hundred out of ten.”
AdventureMice: Otter Chaos is out on 2nd March
Bellis Does Books 
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