#27 Of Mice and Magic

by David Farland

I decided to read this book based on this review from Framed. I may not have read it so soon, but it was the only book on my list that the library had on CD and available immediately. Everything else was checked out or had a waiting list. I enjoyed this book a lot. It reminded me a few times of an old favorite cartoon of mine, The Secret of Nimh. The plot is actually totally different, but there were a few parts that had similarities. It was probably just the fact that it was about mice and there was some mystery and magic involved that brought that movie to my recollection. Anyway, the book is about a boy named Ben who gets turned into a mouse by Amber. Amber is a magical mouse, and she uses the magical power Ben carries to save herself from being fed to a lizard. She simply wished that Ben knew what it felt like to be a mouse. Ben and Amber become friends and help fight an evil sorcerer together. The evil sorcerer is actually Edgar Allen Poe turned into a bat. He is constantly reciting poems as he flies or talks about evil deeds.

I really enjoyed the differences for Ben between being a human and being a mouse. There's the obvious things like size, being hunted, living in holes, but I liked the little differences that the author made up. One difference that stands out are the saying mice use. Ben told Amber that his mother always told him to "Be quiet as a mouse" and Amber says that mice can be really noisy. Her mother always told her to "Be quiet as a rock".

This is the first book in the Ravenspell series. I don't know that I will read anymore of the series, but it was fun to read one of them, but I think most 10-13 year olds would get completely engrossed in this series.