AVI+Book+2



**Author:** AVI
 * Illustrator:** Brian Floca.

** Title: ** "POPPY."


 * Copyright: ** 1995, HarperCollins Childrens Books: New York.
 * Genre: ** Fantasy Fiction/Animal

**Synopsis:** This is a great fantasy located in **//__ Dimwood Forest __//** where there are woodland creatures interacting. //**POPPY**// is a female (teenage) Deer mouse with her Kool boyfriend, **//Ragweed//**, who is a Golden Mouse. They are out and about to go dancing, and **__ BAM !!!__**, Ragweed is killed and eaten by the evil horned owl, **//Mr. Ocax//**!! NO creature within Mr. Ocax's domain is allowed to be out and about without **//__HIS__//** permission. Poppy, who just escapes with her life, gets back to home with her family of hundreds and the patriarch, her dad, **Lungwort**, announces they __//**ALL**//__ have to move and he enlist Poppy to accompany him to negotiate their move with Mr. Ocax. Of course Ocax says //**NO**//, recognizes Poppy and then " //**drops a dime**// " on her for being out and about, without permission!! She runs away to locate //**NEW HOUSE**// and meets and befriends a grumpy, sarcastic, very funny, Porcupine named **//Erethizon Dorsatum//** ("Ereth") who reveals the __//**truth**//__ about porcupines relationship to mice and helps Poppy find out the __//**secret**//__ about New House and Mr. Ocax. A death defying fight to the finish in this very fast paced fantasy animal story. Great Stuff!

** Target Audience: ** Middle School through Early High School.
 * Reading Level: ** 8 th grade plus/Ages 9 - 14.

** Five Ideas: ** 1) Good for discussion on Bullies and what the book Poppy says about bullies; 2) Discussion on Family and the interelations. Can you compare some of Poppy's relatives with YOUR relatives; 3) Study of Maps by having students draw their own maps from the descripions in the book; 4) Study of different animals from the Deer Mouse to the Great Horned Owl and of course Porcupines; 5) Go over some of the vocabulary that is learned like **//__ironic__//** (page 38) and **//deputation//** (page 39). This website may help in orgnizing a Vocab Lesson : [|http://highmail.highlands.k12.fl.us/~polstoj/Poppy%20Vocabulary]. media type="custom" key="3539270" media type="custom" key="3539270" align="right"media type="custom" key="3539270"