Geronimo Stilton 62: Mouse Overboard product reviews

Geronimo Stilton was my son's first introduction to chapter books. The long running series is about Geronimo and his family and friends and all their crazy adventures written from Geronimo's view point. Don't be put off by the numbers though, each book works as a stand alone so you don't need to read them in any particular order. In this book Geronimo is off to Portugal. He has been invited to take part in the historical reenactment of a voyage that one of his famous ancestors once embarked upon, as well as finding a saboteur aboard the ship.

I really liked this book for its education value. It has lots of facts about Portugal and it's capital city, Lisbon, as well as some of it's famous landmarks and historical figures which also encouraged some interesting discussion. The chapters are a good length and there are lots of colour illustrations to break up the text as well as the use of different text sizes and fonts which makes each page look more appealing to younger children. However, independent readers may find it tricky to decipher some of the words.

There is plenty of humour and a sense of mystery surrounding the whole trip but it doesn't take long for Geronimo and his friends to find the saboteur and there is an interesting twist at the end. My son (age 8) and I both really enjoyed this book.

Geronimo Stilton offers a great series of books that explore the life of one writer mouse and his family and friends in various situations. My eldest daughter was introduced to Geronimo about 3 years ago and before that I don't think she would have had the patience to sit through a big book like this. However, recently I read a Geronimo adventure to Miss 3 (almost 4) and she was very keen for more books with the funny mouse so I read this one with her.

This adventure puts Geronimo into a mystery, looking for a saboteur on a ship. There are added difficulties in that, they are doing a historical re-enactment and they are in Portugal. However, those added difficulties for Geronimo, add some flavour and fun as well as learning to the book. There are little facts about the historical voyage. There is also some great information about Lisbon where the ship sets sail from.

Despite this book being 107 pages, it only took about 4 nights to read the whole thing. I just read til Miss 3 wanted me to stop, so usually 3 or so chapters. She enjoyed the pictures which were colourful, as well as the way some of the fonts are presented. She pointed out a few and I explained the words and what they meant and why they looked that way. This was usually because it is trying to illustrate the meaning of the word better.

Last night she did want another book just for a change. I think it was getting to her that the story wasn't as quick as her picture books. However, she soon got over it and enjoyed what was read. Tonight she was completely excited to hear the rest of the story. This book can now be shared with her sister, so now I get twice the value out of the one book which is excellent! Another great title in this series.