Geronimo Stilton Cavemice #5:The Great Mouse Race product reviews

Geronimo Stilton is a very popular series of books that has recently spun off into this Cavemice series. In Cavemice, we are really looking into Geronimo's past and his ancestors. Life in prehistoric Old Mouse City is pretty hard work. For parents who remember the Flintstones, Stiltonoot's world is very similar. They have dinosaur "vehicles" and everything is cave-like. The newspaper is just stone slabs, and Geronimo breaks the 4th wall a lot by saying things like "why have we not invented paper yet".

We just finished up this book tonight and read it over 4 nights. This adventure is set during the Stone Age games. This was quite topical as we have recently had the Commonweath games. We talked about the way the different groups came together and tried to put aside their differences to compete in sport. It was fun finding out what the games were. Some of them sounded very silly and dangerous. But that gave us a giggle.

The mystery was a bit predictable, but I find that with most Geronimo adventures. They are fun for my daughter, but I often know exactly what happened long before she or Geronimo have worked it out. This adventure not only had a mystery to solve, but there was also a lively and exciting end sequence. Geronimo and Hercule encountered danger after crazy danger.

The ending was happy enough and satisfying. No one became extinct which is always good when you are a cavemouse. For $14.50 I think this is a good price for a paper-backed novelette. It's full colour and has some nice illustrations in there too. It's easily in line with the cost of sending your kid to the movies, or even cheaper for more entertainment value. With the school holidays coming up, I would recommend this one for holiday reading.

Yet again I have been privileged to read a Geronimo Stilton book with Mr Four. I really don't think we will be able to get enough of these books as we enjoy them so much. It has become special event for Mr Four and me to sit down and enjoy Geronimo Stilton books together at bedtime.

As with all of the books in the series, we love how there is a variety of vocabulary used throughout the book. Multiple words on each page are emphasised by using larger, bolder, colourful fonts. This makes the page of text more interesting for younger readers as they are not faced with a full page of plain text to read. The images in the book are in line with other books in the series as well. Several times during the reading of this book, I have gone into my son's bedroom when he is supposed to be asleep and found that he is 'reading' the pictures in the book. He has spent quite a bit of time analysing the images and has had plenty to say about them when we sat down together with the book. While listening to me read each page, he had his eyes glued to the illustrations so he could follow the words with his ears and link them to what he was seeing with his eyes at the same time.

This book takes place back in the Stone Age and also has some links to the dinosaur world. Kids just love dinosaurs and I don't think an author can go wrong by bringing them into a storyline. The storyline weaves around the Stone Age Games and the truce between the mice and the tigers. When the flag goes missing, the tigers blame the mice and it is up to Geronimo Stiltonoot (Geronimo Stillton's ancient ancestor) and Hercule to work out what has happened. It is a simple storyline and easy to follow for young readers. The length of the book is just right to suit the target age of the book. It allows the reader to become engrossed in the story and also short enough for interest to be maintained.

We both had a giggle when we read about the pterodactyl being used as a flying machine and how Geronimo and Hercule got stuck with the run down version as they didn't have enough shells for the flash version. We got into hysterics when the pterodactyl started coughing as it was taking off as we imagined how it would be is a real plane.

It seemed to take longer for the excitement and adventure to take hold in this story in comparison to the other books we have read in the same series. However, Mr Four and I were hooked and wanted to keep in reading. One of us would suggest "just one more chapter before bed". Each sitting consisted of a number of chapters as a result.

As with all the Geronimo Stilton books we have read so far, I would highly recommend this book. It would make a great book for children to read to themselves and is equally valuable to read and share with a child who is not yet ready to read it independently.