Heromice #4: Perilous Plants product reviews

Geronimo Stilton is always a winner around here and when you add super heroes to the mix you just know that you're in for another great adventure.

Heromice is a spin off from the original Geronimo Stilton series and features some original characters that we know and love as well as a cast of new characters and a new city setting. This is the 4th book in the series and once again Tony Sludge and the Sewer Rats are up to no good. This time they have created a tonic which turns ordinary plants into superplants and to make matters worse Lady Wonderwhiskers is captured and taken hostage.

My son likes action and he likes it now so I find the pacing of these books to be really good at keeping his attention while still building enough detail into the story. Geronimo Stilton otherwise known as Superstilton when he's in hero mode, still retains his cowardly character that he is known for which makes him an unlikely super hero and adds a lot of humour to the book. Our heroes super powers aren't your norm either - Hercule Poirat aka Swiftpaws has the ability to transform into different objects and Geronimo's powers are somewhat unpredictable and triggered by various cheesy phrases.

I understand the use of differing fonts, colours and text sizes as visual interest for younger readers who are having the book read to them but my son is a bit older now and would be fully capable of reading this book independently except that he has difficulty reading some of the different fonts. The chapters are a little on the long side with lots of words on each page but is balanced nicely with plenty of detailed colour illustrations. One of the other things I like about these books in general is that they can all be read as stand alone books.

I know I'm onto a winner when every single night my son begs me for 'just one more chapter'. I get the feeling that we'll be reading this book a lot.

Since my daughter had begged me to get more Heromice books for her, when this came up for review I was very keen to apply for a copy. The Heromice series is a Geronimo Stilton spin-off series, where Geronimo becomes Superstilton and his friend Hercules becomes Swiftpaws. Best of all, there is a whole next cast of mice as it is set in Muskrat City which is a distance away from New Mouse City. The new mice friends and enemies are fun additions to the normal cast that have continued even in spin-offs.

Reflecting on it, I don't know that Geronimo could be as confident as a hero as he is, if Thea and Trap were about. While he is still his cowardly self, he always manages to put the good of the city and its people above his own survival. In this book, the Heromice are facing plants that have been mutated for evil purposes. The baddies are trying to take the city.

We found that many times in this story, the Heromice were against some heavy odds. Some of the situations seemed almost impossible to resolve. It was good to see the Heroes work through problems, not just with power and strength but also with their wit and cunning. The plants that are attacking are all slightly different and reminded my daughter of playing Plants vs Zombies on the iPad. She was quite worried for Geronimo a couple of times, but cheered when he worked his way through some of the tricky obstacles.

My favourite character was Lady Wonderwhiskers, though I kept calling her Wonderpaws. She is everything a girl superhero should be. The focus not being entirely on her beauty but on her brilliance in a tight spot. Though, you know the moment Geronimo talks about a mouse being fascinating, that he has a BIG crush on her. My daughter loves Geronimo. Though she would love Swiftpaws' costume because it is very handy and can turn into anything. We also liked that the book is a little educational, as it covers some requirements for plant care.

For the cost of less than a movie ticket and popcorn, you can get this book that lasted us about a week reading it. The illustrations were beautifully coloured as always, with a few full page spreads. The story is fun and entertaining. I imagine I will re-read it when Miss 3 is a bit older. She didn't want to read with us this time around. If you have read any of the Geronimo books, and liked them, this could well be for you.