By: Sean Poppy

Plotline Poppy and Mr. Ocax have a fight and Mr. Ocax dies, knocking down and cracking the salt lick In Dimwood Forest, Poppy meets Ereth the porcupine (who loves salt) and he protects her from the persistent Mr. Ocax Poppy makes it safely to New House and finds a HUGE fake owl which she presumes Mr. Ocax is afraid of Ereth gets the salt he wanted Lungwort and Poppy ask Mr. Ocax for permission to move to New House and Mr. Ocax disallows it Poppy decides to investigate at New House but she must first travel through Dimwood Forest Poppy gets married to Rye and has 11 children Poppy’s father, Lungwort, announces that their family is too big and some need to move elsewhere Mr. Ocax kills Ragweed and eats him Poppy and Ragweed go to Bannock Hill without Mr. Ocax’s permission Without Mr. Ocax to deal with, Poppy’s whole family can move to New House

Character Descriptions

Poppy Poppy is a mouse who was, at first, very timid. Later, she learned that you can’t be afraid to stand up for yourself. She convinced herself to go through Dimwood Forest and investigate at New House. She even did the impossible for a mouse: she defeated an owl! Poppy really made a name for herself.

Mr. Ocax Mr. Ocax is a mean old owl who claims to be the ruler of the Dimwood Region. He keeps the mice in line by spreading rumors that porcupines eat mice. The only reason he does this is to make it so that curious mice don’t go exploring Dimwood Forest and find his home. He also tells the mice that they can not travel almost anywhere without his permission, giving him the occasional snack.

Ragweed Ragweed is a very strong-hearted mouse and never thinks things through. He always asks questions about everything and just wants to live life to the fullest.

Ereth Ereth is a very grumpy porcupine. He uses foul language all the time, and on everyone. The thing he loves most is salt. Salt, salt, and more salt. If he could have anything in the world it would be salt.

Lungwort Lungwort is a strict, mean, grumpy mouse. His wife is Sweet Cicely and he and she created a huge family of mice, of which, Lungwort is the ultimate father. All the mice have to listen to him and follow his orders.

Theme One lesson that Avi wants his readers to take away is: Things aren’t always what they seem to be. Proof: On page 63, Poppy is figuring out that Mr. Ocax didn’t want her family to move to New House because of her, it was because he thought that the big owl on the barn would steal his dinners.

Conflicts and Resolutions Poppy’s family is running out of food and at least part of them need to move to New House Mr. Ocax dies, giving all the mice the freedom to move All throughout Dimwood Forest, Poppy is being closely followed by Mr. Ocax Poppy finds Ereth and he is one of the only things that scares Mr. Ocax Poppy can not get the salt lick to Ereth When Mr. Ocax dies he smacks into the salt lick, knocking it off and breaking it into several chunks

My Opinion I liked Poppy because there were a few cliffhangers which I just love. One of them was at the end of chapter 10 Poppy was stuck between the strange obscure creature (Ereth) and the fox. I liked other parts too, but this is the main reason.

Changes With Poppy Beginning End In the beginning of Poppy, Poppy was very afraid of Mr. Ocax. When she learned that she was to go to Mr. Ocax’s watching tree, she was petrified. Though she agreed, she was still completely terrified. Toward the end of Poppy, she became more brave. One example is when Poppy came out of the corn and onto the dirt road to talk with Mr. Ocax. No other mouse would do this, for it was so dangerous. This proves that Poppy definitely changed throughout the book.

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