Module 6 Book Review #4: Lights, Camera, Middle School! (Babymouse: Tales from the Locker)

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*This book review was written for a MLS course at SHSU.*

Image result for babymouse lights camera middle school

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Holm, Jennifer L. and Holm, Matthew. (2017). LIGHT, CAMERA, MIDDLE SCHOOL! (BABYMOUSE: TALES FROM THE LOCKER). New York, NY: Random House Children’s Books. ISBN 9780399554384

PLOT SUMMARY
Babymouse feels that her middle school life is just like a movie. So, it only makes since that when it comes time to sign up for activities, she decides to join film club. All she wants to do is stand out; therefore, she becomes the film club’s movie director and script writer in order to help her reach that goal. However, along the way, Babymouse tries so hard to reach her fame, that she begins to not only lose herself, but also her friends who were helping her out with the movie. Will Babymouse realize that she wrong and that her friends were an essential part to making this movie debut? Or will she continue to her stardom all by herself?

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
One major conflict Babymouse went through was constantly worrying about “standing out” from her school community. This is a common struggle for those who are in middle school, which makes the story itself definitely relatable to those in that age group. Instead of doing something way out of her league, Babymouse knew she loved movies; therefore, she made the right choice when she became a part of film club. She was aware of the fact that she wasn’t popular, but she did a have a small and supportive group of friends that also joined film club to help her make her vision come to life. However, that is when things started to get sticky. Her desperation to get noticed and credit went a little too far, and as time progressed, she wanted to start taking over some of her friends’ jobs in order to get the project done the “right” way. Her friends weren’t too happy about this, and they stepped back from the movie and left Babymouse with the work alone. This is when Babymouse learned such a valuable lesson: friendship is strong and something to be cherished, not taken advantage of. She also learned that teamwork makes the dream work, so she knew she needed to admit she was wrong and apologize for her selfish actions.

The graphic illustrations really helped highlight the characters’ emotions and the reasons behind their actions. For example, Babymouse is energetic and really passionate, which the readers are clearly able to see when she decides to make the best epic movie as possible. The comics also help represent the humor the authors tended for the novel to have, especially to highlight the fact that Babymouse’s middle school years is just one big movie that keeps going on and on. In addition to the illustrations, the small text to accompany them also represented the protagonist pretty well. Since Babymouse strived to be a star, she often imagined herself as a French celebrity. An example of this is when the reader can see that when she’s frustrated, she would respond with phrases such as “le sigh”. Also, a lot of the text had to do with puns, and the authors did a great job collaborating with each other to make sure the graphics helped conveyed those examples of figurative language as well.


REVIEW EXCERPTS
*School Library JournalReview: “Though this title contains more text than the original "Babymouse" books, there are numerous illustrations throughout, the font is large, and the difficulty of the language is comparable to that of previous books, making it ideal for fans crossing over into longer chapter book territory.”
*Kirkus Reviews Review:"A smooth transition into a fresh format that should both resonate with existing fans and entice new ones." 
*Publishers WeeklyReview: “The Holms humorously tackle friendship, persistence, and cooperation; readers who have aged out of the original Babymouse books will happily join her in this new chapter.”

CONNECTIONS
*In addition to the Babymouse: Tales from the Locker series, there is also a regular Babymousegraphic novel series that contains twenty books about some of her previous adventures in elementary school.
*Students can write their own movie or T.V. episode script using the key terms in the back of the graphic novel and other necessary drama words. This can actually be a group project, in which students can have the option to film it is a final product.
*There are a lot of puns in Babymouse books. Students can review and identify different examples of figurative language, especially puns either before or after reading the graphic novel.

PICTURE SOURCE
https://www.amazon.com/Lights-Camera-Middle-School-Babymouse/dp/0399554386

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